


Temptation

by o_r_r



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Blood, Blood Somewhat Kink, By a siren (sea bitch), Don't know how else to say it, First Mate Song Mingi, He's the Pirate King bitches, Hongjoong got cursed, I be posting this shit as I write it, It's a vampire fic what you expecting?, M/M, Not fucking beta read, Pirate ATEEZ Ensemble, Pirate Kim Hongjoong, San is a bit sadistic, Seonghwa is also a bit sadistic, Seonghwa likes it when Hongjoong cuts him with his blade, Slow Build?, Smut, They don't fuck in the first chapter, Torture, Vampire Park Seonghwa, Will add tages as I go, fucking sue me
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 10:01:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 17
Words: 38,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28686786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/o_r_r/pseuds/o_r_r
Summary: Park Seonghwa has been alive for a very long time. There is not much that stirs his soul except the occasional hunt for either greedy aristocrats or the bloodlusted vampire. He has no desires.Hongjoong has many desires. His true love is the sea and has always been the sea. He is the Pirate King. He is cruel, clever and never hesitates to protect his crew. When he protects Mingi from the song of a siren by cutting her head off, the siren's sister curses him. "I will curse you, Kim Hongjoong, Pirate King. The sea will no longer welcome you. Your crew will pay for your grievance with their lives. You will share the pain of the sea."Hongjoong can't fight off the creatures of the deep without inflicting the same wounds upon himself so he goes to a witch who owes him a favor. She directs him to the Dark Prince who is in the north. Hongjoong must let the Dark Prince take him in order to be freed from the ties of the curse on his soul. But Hongjoong isn't about to lay on his back for some royal asshole.Until he meets said Dark Prince who stares out at the sea but stares at Hongjoong in fear.
Relationships: Choi Jongho/Kang Yeosang, Choi San/Jung Wooyoung, Choi San/Park Seonghwa, Jeong Yunho/Song Mingi, Jung Wooyoung/Park Seonghwa, Kim Hongjoong/Park Seonghwa
Comments: 42
Kudos: 103





	1. Preface

**Author's Note:**

> Got obsessed with both Vampire Hwa and Pirate Ateez so now I am creating the best of both worlds. I ain't about to lay out every damn scene of violence cause bitch it's gonna be all up on here. Get ready for a wild ride. 
> 
> Also I'm tired as fuck so I didn't edit. Maybe I'll proofread tomorrow but tonight I'm gonna take a hard nap.

Preface 

Roughly the Year 1406

It was way too dark and disgusting down here for any human to survive. It was filthy and it made Seonghwa’s hands twitch at his side. Couldn’t they at least clean up the place a bit? Was that so hard? There were so many prisoners down here so why couldn’t they task a few of them to clean the place a bit. It was bothering him and he was growing more irritated with each passing day. There wasn’t a single scratch on Seonghwa and, if not for the buckets of wolfsbane drowning his veins, he felt very compelled to just leave. But he did have buckets of wolfsbane burning through his vines creating trenches where his vessels should be giving him strength. Initially, when he was at home and his vision had gone hazy, he reflected for a moment if he had mistreated any of the employees of his home enough that they would feel the need to do something like this. He didn’t need to eat but he had heard that a group of chef’s had been fired and were unemployed. He had sought them out to employ them. He was a very rich member of society because he had been alive for so long and had nothing more to do than live idly trying to be as little of a burden to society as possible. He didn’t get involved in politics unless he thought that someone was about to do something that would inevitably put the country he had born in down a dark path or mar it’s image into an ugly light. 

Was that why? Had he angered one of the local politicians because he had denied their invitation to that party the pudgy old man held? It wouldn't be the first time that someone had tried to kill him for something so petty. He had been alive for 400 years. Humanity had not taken big steps forward. They still clung to the light of day and feared whatever shadow moved at night. They still pasted those ridiculous talismans on their door like that would protect them against his kind. Seonghwa laughed bitterly. Really, this was too much. He had made it an obvious point to stay as far away from the public eye as possible and this was the result. Would he be safer walking around in broad daylight? Would he actually be able to live more peacefully if he piraded the streets like some asshole aristocrat. No, that wasn’t really suitable for him. He had hated being in public when he was a human, and if anything, that had intensified when he became a vampire.

The origin of his vampirism was still a little iffy. He had been sick...very sick. And the local medicine man had created some elixir that he had given Seonghwa. The entire process had been terrifying. After he had drunk the elixir, he only experienced darkness and pain. Overwhelming pain that had him screaming until the townspeople had asked the medicine man to gag him so he would stop bothering the village. When he woke up, he was better. He no longer felt like he couldn’t breathe but that was because he didn’t need to. He no longer ran a fever, but that was because his body held no warmth either way. The medicine man had been horrified, begged Seonghwa to run away, not to tell a soul that he had created a monster. Seonghwa had been willing to leave the village but he had never once thought of himself as a monster. Because he had been born a human, he had been sick, and he had been healed. He still felt the same emotions he had as a human. And though he required human blood to live, he didn’t need to kill them to take it. He needed to only steal a sip here or there. There were plenty of men or women that had been more than willing to invite him to their beds. He had not given them the pleasure they were seeking but they would not remember otherwise. Taking blood did that. It erased all the unpleasant memories of the act and made the person that much more peaceful. 

But now, this was where that careful consideration had landed him. In the dungeons of the town that he had stayed the hell out of. He had lived peacefully on the outskirts. If Seonghwa had known that this filth was brewing down here, he would have come and cleaned the place himself. 

Seonghwa was brought out of his inner broiling by someone coming down the hall. Seonghwa’s limbs had finally regained feeling but not enough to break out of the cell. He could probably fight if he had to, not aggressively but just enough. The man stopped in front of his cell and opened it with a smirk, “Park Seonghwa, the head of the city said that you had bewitched him. You are here on counts of witchcraft. Do you deny it?” Seonghwa blinked up at the man. Ah, so it had been that stupid party he had rejected. Seonghwa had no clue that the man was...bewitched? Seonghwa’s lips twitched, “Oh, is that so? Sir, don’t you think if I had bewitched him, I would have at least made the effort to go to his little party? Bald, middle aged guys aren’t quite my taste, I am afraid. Please send my apologies for not wanting to bed him.” The man lost his smirk and took the three short steps, fingers digging into Seonghwa’s hair and jerking his head back, “You really are like a foul bitch?” Seonghwa gritted his teeth and took a deep breath, “Foul? What’s foul is you running your disgusting fingers through my hair. Let go of me.” The man just gripped tighter and Seonghwa lost his cool. He grabbed the man by the front of his shirt, jerked him forward and pulled his head back. The only sound in the filth was the sound of Seonghwa's teeth ripping into his flesh and the man screaming. 


	2. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seonghwa sees Hongjoong and he isn't sure the thousand years of patience stands a chance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said in the first chapter, be prepared for any violence. Also, who cares about meticulous historical accuracy. I'll just hit the outside of the target...I will get more meticulous as we go. Not even gonna lie.

300 years later…

The waters were quiet as the Aurora, a precious ship and greatest treasure if you asked the Captain, sat at the harbor of the island that was home to the most infamous bar among pirates, the Black Rose. The ship was quiet, it’s members all on land enjoying the night with one night lovers and booze. They always crowded the bar of the Black Rose when they were there. The owner of the place would scowl at them but secretly hide smiles behind her drink when Yunho would ask for another round with his arms tightly wound around Mingi’s waist. The captain of the crew sat in the corner surrounded by women but looking almost boredly out across the bar. He looked like he was in another world, but anyone could see that even in this place with laughter, there was a dark laugh smirking in his eyes. Sadistic and cruel. Hongjoong shoved his way away from the women who whined out but did not follow him, used to the unfair treatment only for one of them to actually be able to slink into his bed that night. Hongjoong called for another bottle of rum and Rose rolled her eyes but handed it to him anyway. At that moment, the door kicked open and the wind howled, calling for the attention of the entire place to see who had come through the door. Their figure was tall, not nearly as tall as his own First Mate, Mingi, but the man was taller than Hongjoong. He wore black from head to toe, showing not a single inch of skin. Hongjoong scoffed. Was he a priest? There was the clicking sound of a distasteful tongue as Rose looked at the newcomer, “He’s back again. Never even buys a drink. He just rents the room for 10 minutes and goes on his merry way. Don’t even think he sleeps with him but the girls are so enthralled by his visits I can’t say no.” Hongjoong eyed the man whose face was covered mostly by the scarf around his face and the flat brim hat over his head. It was quite a display and Hongjoong found himself drawn a bit by him but he also wanted to gut him.

Hongjoong glared at the man and gestured to his crew. They were leaving. It didn’t matter if none of them had gotten what they were looking for out of this trip. This wasn’t a feeling that settled well with Hongjoong and he wasn’t going to endanger his men over a manner of pride. That was what was edging him towards the man, thirsting to his blood spilled in the dark candlelight of the pub. The boys went to whine but with one hard look from Hongjoong, they followed his order. 

\---

Seonghwa sat stiffly in his seat. He hated the Black Rose but it was the only place that did not press him to spend more than the few minutes he needed to stay with their ladies of the night so that he could drink and leave the nest of smells that swarmed around him. He hated the scents of humans, especially in this corner of the world. The aristocrats smelled of alcohol and the stench of fake flowers pressed into fine powders in an attempt to make women smell prettier. The pirates smelled like sweat, blood, and sometimes feces. They both burn his nose uncomfortably but he wouldn’t need to return to either world for at least a month before he would need to feed again. It was something that got better with time. When he had first turned he had to feed every few days and then, with time, only once a week. 700 years of existence had made it to where he only needed to get close to these humans in such an intimate setting once a month. It was a gracious gift that time had granted him. Another gift that time had given him was patience. But it had not ever taught him the dangers of temptation. 

  
  


Seonghwa gripped the edge of the table he was sitting at with such strength that the wood groaned, not to be heard above the loud laughing and brawling of the pirates in the pub. There at the counter was the source of his discomfort. It was a small man, a man with eyes that looked out with sadistic intent and a mouth that seemed like it would be set in a wild smile but was now drawn tightly into a grimace. The man initially had smelled like all the other pieces of filth in the place. He smelled of the sea, the sweat of the day, his clothes free of blood but his boots bathing in the metallic smell. And then, after one more deep breath, it was there. It smelled like a lotus flower, sweet and kind, soft. It was making Seonghwa dizzy with want, something he had never felt a day in his life. Not when he had been young and mad with near bloodlust and not when he was a human with a soft heart for the baker’s son. No, this was something that made heat crawl in his belly and his head throb painfully as he concentrated fully on the table. And then there was scuffling as the man directed his group to leave. Seonghwa relaxed in his seat but the burning in his stomach remained. He would not sleep that night.

  
  


Hongjoong braced himself as his grip on the wheel tightened. The sea was not calm and it was not welcoming. “Mingi! Get those sails turned ‘round.” Mingi shouted out a confirmation as he ran along the rails trying to tie off the ropes. The ship slammed into a wave and Hongjoong’s nerves buzzed as he heard it. It was the siren's song. “Cover your ears so the Siren’s don’t pull you into the water. Scream if you must!” The deck was overrun with men trying to respond to the Captain’s orders even as they screamed so loud their throats were sore. Hongjoong felt the sweet melodies try to calm him to sleep but fire burned in his soul at the idea of a couple of whiny bitches causing _his_ Aurora to sink into Davy Jones's locker. Hongjoong’s eyes trailed across his men. Wooyoung was swinging across the high mast as he pulled here and released there as San yelled down from the crow’s nest. “Cap’n, Mingi’s ‘bout t’swim.” Hongjoong’s eyes snapped down as he saw Mingi covering his ears but a glowing figure had risen from the water before the woman grinned at the man she was singing to sweetly. Siren’s were ugly. Hongjoong had always thought so. Their skin was slimy, gills in their necks that fluttered frantically when they dipped above the surface, their eyes were a charcoal black and their hair was clumpy, strung with whatever they had been swimming through--human remains seemed to be what this siren had been chewing on before coming back up for more. Hongjoong caught Yeosang by the shirt and shoved him towards the wheel before he was jumping down to the deck and drawing his sword. The siren was barely able to blink in his direction before he was digging his blade into her neck, screwing his nose up in disgust at the sad shrieks she released. He kicked at her chest to send her back into the sea and then the water seemed to be screeching. 

“Wretched pirate! You would kill my sister! _I will curse you, Kim Hongjoong, Pirate King. The sea will no longer welcome you. Every creature of the sea will swallow you until they have devoured your soul to be forever locked in Davy Jones Locker. Your crew will pay for your grievance with their lives. If you flee to the land, you will live forever missing your lost love. You will share the pain of the sea.”_ The sea continued to berate his ship but the Captain had returned to the wheel and he navigated them out of the storm that had blown them into the passage in the first place. When they had reached still waters once more, the Captain kept his expression stone still as the words repeated in his brain. His lost love? The sea? The only home he had ever known? He felt a rage bubble in his chest and he smirked at the idea of a sea bitch trying to steal anything from him like she wasn’t the spawn of some failed love herself. Yeosang was watching the captain with a weary expression, “Cap’n, what is the course?” Hongjoong was quiet for a moment, “Until we know the meanings of the curse, we’re goin’ to our original course. Death Valley, boys!” There were groans but the crew set to their post. They had a deal with an old enemy and he didn’t want to be late.

The sea was calm, eerily so. The crew was nervous because not a wave had tried to lick the rail and the wind pushed them calmly to their destination. And then it felt as though the ship was being pulled by its middle down towards the bottom of the sea. The ship groaned as vibrations bit through the wood and played like a sad melody into the heals of the captain’s boots, “It’s the kraken! “‘Er one to their post! Yunho, the cannons!” “Yes, Cap’n.” They had barely managed to strap in the cannons before there was a burst of water. San screeched from his nest, “Cap’n! Tha’s a big fucking tenta--ah!” The tentacle slammed into the deck before Yunho was yelling out above the chaos, “Fire!” Cannon fire rang through the hair, ears ringing momentarily as bits of flesh was burned making a pungent smell permeate in the air. Hongjoong could hear San gagging from his spot but he was barking out orders already. The kraken wasn’t a big one, not like it’s mother probably was so it slid its tentacles off the ship and sunk into the water, its voice making Hongjoong’s teeth hurt as it cut through his chest like it was his own wounds. Hongjoong was having a hard time breathing and Yeosang was worriedly shaking him. He looked at his own chest and saw blood seeping through his shirt. “Ah, I will share the pain of the sea. Shit.” And Hongjoong passed out. 

When Hongjoong awoke, he was in his cabin, bandaging patching up his chest and Yeosang was standing there with a dark expression on his face. “Mingi has, as the second in command, changed our course. We are headed to the Eastern Isles.” Hongjoong stood, swaying a bit but grabbed the fur coat and pulled it on, “Why the fuck ya taking my ship to t’Eastern Isles.” Yeosang just looked at him evenly, “We’re seeing that witch, Hongjoong like we shoulda done first. We can only hope we get there with you still alive. It’s going to be a long four days. The ship and the crew will die if we don’t go to that witch. And you...you will die too.” Hongjoong looked at the marks bleeding through the bandages and sighed, “Okay, Sangie, but I’m going to get us there. Can’t trust you to make it alive if you are too damn worried about me.” “Sure, Cap’n. Wouldn’t dream of it.” 


	3. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy I guess.

It took them 6 days to get to the Eastern Isle’s where the witch lived. It was Hongjoong’s own damn fault that she had chosen that godforsaken rats hole for a home. He had kicked her off there after she had tried to kill him. She had crawled aboard his ship, claiming to be a survivor of a crash that Hongjoong couldn’t give two shits about. He had thrown her back in the water because she looked like trouble. Women who looked like trouble don’t belong aboard a ship. She had shown up in his bed that night with a whip around his neck. He had told Yeosang to take him to the nearest pile of rocks so he could toss her there, so that she would not be able to follow him back out to sea. In return for returning her to land, she had promised him one favor in the future. Just one. And Hongjoong was about to use it on this fucking curse. He could use it for treasure. Give me the best treasure the sea has to offer or let me live forever on the waves with a favorable wind. But he was wasting it on this, how to break the curse a damn siren put on him.

Hongjoong, Yeosang and Yunho climbed off the boat onto the island. It was dark, crawling with boasting women and whiny men. It was home to the men who had stopped and let the women rot their brains until there was nothing left but hollow shells of themselves to be tossed into the ocean until more men returned to replace them. Hongjoong drew his sword on a woman who tried to claw at him, “Take us to that damned witch. Tell her Hongjoong is here to see her.” The woman pouted but led them up the street, and yet further until they were away from the noise of the town and stood in front of what looked to be no more than a shack. “Hongjoong.” The voice purred from the dark opening. He didn’t care for formalities and stepped into the entrance, “Amelia. I’m here for my one little favor.” The woman grinned, “Oh, and what a favor you bring. I see your soul’s been tied by a pretty little curse. What could I possibly do against magic like that.” Hongjoong leaned into her space, not breaking eye contact as he sneered, “One favor, Amelia, for giving you this little haven.” The woman smiled softly as she leaned away. She grabbed the woman who had brought them there and tugged the woman’s arm over the table. With a flash, she had slit open the woman’s arm and watched the blood drip down onto the table before she shoved her away. She spit into the small puddle of blood and mixed them together like she didn’t look absolutely out of her mind as she licked the blood off the table. Her eyes clouded over for a moment before she was grasping a bag of bones. She emptied them in her palm and shook them above the table before letting them fall. She stared at them for a long moment before her eyes cleared again. “You cannot break this curse, Hongjoong. You can only break your soul. Seek out the Dark Prince to the North. Let him take you and you will sacrifice your soul. In return, you may return to the sea and it will haunt you no more.” 

Hongjoong narrowed his eyes at the woman, “Let a Dark _Prince_ take me. Not sure if that’s worth the effort. Me and the royals don’t really get along.” The woman smirked, “Oh, he isn’t a mortal royal. Seek him. You will find him quite...agreeable to look at.” Yunho let out a huff, “Cap’n, we got get to the north without dyin’ but…” Hongjoong stood, “Take me. Yeah, I’ll meet this Prince but we’ll see who's takin’.” 

\--

Seonghwa was in the north again. It wasn’t his favorite place to be but he had felt the north calling for him again. It was the place he had been born. Every hundred years, he was called back to his home. It was where every bad thing had ever happened to him. It was where he had been banished from his village. It was where he had been poisoned by his household. It was where he had been burned at the stake by humans only to wake three days later still nailed to the now dusty column on the cliff’s edge. It was where he had loved first and loved last. It was where his heart had slowly begun to die. Eternity was endless. He was getting tired but not tired enough to stop moving, to stop killing for those who begged only to turn the blade back on the one who had requested the job done. It was the only task that he had found much pleasure in as watched the life drain from the eyes of those who had sought to kill their family members or an official so they could better grasp that position of power. There was one other thing that made his heart beat. That was tracking down his own kind that tore through villages eating whatever they wanted and leaving behind mountains of bodies as their bellies never felt full. Seonghwa slaughtered them with their bloated bodies; they fought with animalistic rage and Seonghwa always brought them to their knees. He had heard that his kind called him the Dark Prince. Newborns were told stories of an old vampire who would kill you if you were greedy but he was still just a myth, a story told until he actually came to dole out the punishment. 

It was for this reason that the north was calling him again and his lungs burned in painful pleasure at the thought of it. A smile had even found its way on his face as he followed the now distantly familiar landscape back to his home. The cities changed but the rivers and mountains remained the same, unchanging, guiding him back to his origin once again. His boots slid through the mud, the wet grass, the streams and snow that had started to fall and he did not stop to clean his boots like he would normally be inclined to. This was more pressing, more important than his incessant need to cleanse his attire, his surroundings, when there was a lost soul within his grasp that could abundantly satisfy the compulsive desire to clean away the filth of this world. 

Seonghwa entered the place where his city had once stood. Long gone were the huts and sparse fires that had claimed the days of his youth. In its stead were towering buildings that made the huts of his memory seem but a far memory. They were so far away now, rotted beneath the layers of earth that had settled in between the rising and waning of time. This city smelled of death, the people on the street smelled of paranoia, fear. It stung Seonghwa’s nose but he followed the smell of death anyway. He arrived at the edge of the city and saw that the villagers hadn’t even bothered to bury them. Carcases devoid of life, drained of their blood were piled in a mass like a cruel offering to an unseeing god. 

Around them was a rope with little talisman’s like the villagers could trap the demon that had drained their neighbors just because they had piled the bodies high and ‘trapped’ their death inside. The stray body here or there outside of the rope proved that the village shaman was not right in their assumptions of just what angry spirit was plaguing their village. Seonghwa left the bodies and headed towards the building he had passed with ornate fabrics hanging from the entrance. He stopped outside and glanced at a passerby who was staring at him in question. Seonghwa lowered his mask and the local seemed to blush. Seonghwa already knew that to others he appeared to be breathtaking, beautiful, though he saw none of those things himself when he gazed at his own face. He smiled as gently as possible, hoping it did not look malicious, “Is this the home of the town shaman?” The villager nodded quickly. Seonghwa put his mask back on and stepped into the threshold. There was no one in the entrance so he just stepped further inside until he arrived at the room, the sliding door drawn open. There was a woman sitting there dressed up in lavish traditional clothing, her face painted different shades as if that would appeal to the spirits. Seonghwa smiled behind his mask as he took off his shoes and sat on the pillow. The woman’s eyes snapped open and she grabbed a set of bells. “Stranger, why have you come to our town?” Seonghwa leaned on the table, one hand propped up to hold his chin, “Oh, just visiting after some time. I noticed quite a few dead bodies on my way in. I was wondering what you had to tell me about that?” As if the shaman could tell him anything, “You are not from here. Have never been here. Why do you come here?” The woman looked nervous. Seonghwa sighed. She was a fraud after all. He had hoped that she was at least just a weak shaman who could manage to tell him the general whereabouts of his lost vampire. “Ah, I see that I am wasting my time then. I will go hunting in the woods to see if I might stumble across my friend.” He stood and the woman’s hand snapped up to grab his wrist, “No...please wait. He...walks the woods just before the night falls. He walks the city at night. You will not be safe.” “He?” “The...he can’t be human but he isn’t a demon. He looks human but he eats those people everyday.” Seonghwa pulled away. 

This woman wasn’t a shaman but she had seen him. He wondered what kind of careless bastard would let a witness live. A witness who had spied him enough to know when and where he was at a given time of day. This was the reason that his kind had to live as invisible men and women. Carelessness and greed that came with a power given out freely to human beings who were worth nothing more than the excrement they created each day. Seonghwa took her advice, or rather the opposite of her advice and walked the woods. There above the woods was the cliff he had been burned on. He couldn’t smell the vampire so he just continued on towards the cliff. Once he was standing at the cliff, looking out to the sea, he took a deep breath. He had always hated the sea. It reminded him of his eternity when he had watched its endless rolling as he had sat and watched it’s anger through the shield of flames. It made him feel the same way now but it also made him feel at peace. It was a companion that had not changed, withered away or been wiped clean by the passing of time. Staring out at it made both bitterness and calm wash through him. 

His nostalgia was interrupted by the scent of the sea being replaced by the rotten stink of death. He grimaced and turned to find the creature responsible for it. The creature before him did not resemble a man much by now. It was what happened when vampires overfed and succumbed to their animalistic side. His hair was balding in some spots, his fangs could no longer retract back into his mouth and just hung dumbly, slashing into his lower lip until indents had been made to give more space for the oversized tusks. His belly was swollen unnaturally while the rest of his limbs were gangly, muscles drawn tight from the weight of the belly that now pulled against the skin there. The sight itself Seonghwa did not enjoy. But he did enjoy what came after. He pulled off his hat and scarf, carefully folded the latter and set them down on the rock next to him. “Hello, young one. It looks like you’ve been getting greedy. You should have listened to those little myths your friends told you about and you wouldn’t have ended up here.” The shadow of a man’s eyes widened before he was sprinting. Seonghwa let out a sigh as he took off after him. It wasn’t hard, the beast was weighed down by the belly. Seonghwa didn’t kill him immediately. That would end the warmth thrumming in his chest too quickly. His nails became talons as he swooped low and sliced through the back of the creature’s legs. He let out a wail that made the wildlife scatter, birds shooting from the branches in surprise. 

He collapsed to the ground and Seonghwa leaned over him. “See? You thought that because you became the top of the food chain that you were invincible.” The wounds on the back of his legs had healed but Seonghwa buried his fingers into the thighs of the man, his nails slicing through the skin, effectively holding him down. “Vampires can die. They die every day. Well, I don’t but some are burned alive at the stake, some have their hearts carved out. Some have their heads cleaved off. Hard to grow back an entire piece of you, really? You should have followed the rules. Stay quiet. Feed enough to survive. Don’t get greedy.” The vampire whimpered underneath him, stuttering out apologies, “D-Dark P-p-prince. I will do b-better. I swear. I w-won’t be g-reedy.” Seonghwa shook his head, “There are meanings behind myths, little one. Did the myths ever say that I let one of you go?” “Please!” “No. Now, you have to pay the price for slaughtering villages and gorging yourself because you got a taste of power. You endangered all the vampires who live quietly as they were told. How should I end you then? I was once burned at the stake on that cliff. Should I recreate one of my many deaths for you as punishment?”

Seonghwa dragged the man back to the cliff’s edge as he wailed and screamed for mercy. Seonghwa settled him just at the cliff’s edge and looked out at the sea. “Would you look at the sea? It’s kind of bittersweet. Rolling for eternity. Neverending. Like this life that we have. A great companion to have in this eternity.” Seonghwa felt his gaze glass over as he gazed at the deep black of the sea rolling beneath them. The vampire glanced at the sea with worried eyes, “D-Dark Prince, I...am not a swimmer.” He smiled down at the vampire, “Don’t worry. I won’t throw you down. I wouldn’t want to taint the sea’s beautiful tide with your filth. Instead, I will tear out your heart here and you will gaze at her who will continue to roll eternally and know that this is where yours ended. It ended because you couldn’t control that greed.”

Seonghwa did not end it sweetly like that. Instead, he gently carved into the skin of the swollen belly. Blood started gushing out, finally being released from the tight hold of the skin. Seonghwa grimaced, “So much in that swollen belly. And this isn’t even all of the blood that you took from the villagers. Probably vomited most of it up the first time you gorged until your body was forced to keep it down. Disgusting.” Seonghwa continued to carve little lines into the skin until the creature beneath him was shaking. “Now, all of that extra stuff is gone. We can deal with what was essential in the beginning.” Seonghwa deftly slid his hand through the vampire's chest until his hand connected to the heart within, he ripped it from his body and stood again. The vampire would technically continue to live until Seonghwa squeezed the life out of it. The vampire stared at the organ with wide eyes, “Yes, if I rip it out you can still live as long as it is beating. But I don’t intend to. I just wanted you to see the fragility of immortality.” Seonghwa squeezed the organ until the tissues slid between the spaces of his fingers. The vampire’s chest rose in pain before he was gasping and then his eyes reflected nothing but the clouded sky and tree limbs that were reaching out to the bittersweet eternity over the cliff’s edge. 

Seonghwa released a breath, pulled out a bottle of rum from his coat pocket and drenched the body in the volatile liquid before he lit up a match and tossed it on the body. It caught aflame and he grabbed his hat and scarf and then turned to the darkness of the forest once more, “You can come out now. I can already tell that you aren’t the type to go yelling about vampires when you’ve got such a curse attached to your soul.” Seonghwa expected a devastated man with an equally distraught companion to step out behind the trees but was instead met with the sight of a tall man with pitch black hair with a sharp nose. He looked composed, serious, like he was willing to die for the one that followed. And the one who followed closely was a much shorter man with white hair cut sharply at the front with white braids at the base of his head. And Seonghwa was rooted to his spot as the sweet smell of lotus flowers hit him. 


	4. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh shit, sorry to my readers for posting this when I have other things I haven't updated. I've hit a wall with that story unfortunately. I hope you don't mind.

Hongjoong’s journey to the north had not been kind. His men were exhausted from the ship. The first town they encountered had no knowledge of a Dark Prince. The royalty, they said, was inland. They took the roads, each town they passed through was the same. There was no Dark Prince, no tales of folklore about a figure who could be named as such. They were going to turn in at the next town, but they were met with a strange atmosphere. It was nearly nightfall and the streets of the town were absolutely empty. They stopped at an inn where a single person was standing behind the counter. Hongjoong approached the figure, “Need two rooms. Three if you have ‘em.” The person jumped at the sound of his voice and his eyes widened further when he saw who was speaking. “Ah, yes. Three rooms. I can give you three rooms.” The man behind the counter searched through drawers and laughed, “So many interesting guests are in town today. Earlier, I thought I had met a Prince. He was quite a beauty, not much unlike yourself.” Hongjoong, who had been staring at the wall behind the man, slowly losing his patience, looked at the man firmly at this, “A Prince.” The man nodded shyly, “Ah, yes, he asked me about the shaman’s house. He was dressed in black head to toe but when he took off his mask, he was the most beautiful person I had ever seen.” Hongjoong exchange a look with Yeosang who looked dead on his feet. They were led to their rooms and once Hongjoong knew they were settled, he stepped into the room of his first mate. Mingi was laying on the bed with Yunho sprawled across his lap and San was sleeping in the corner of the bed. Hongjoong looked at Mingi who had been staring into space before he had entered, “Mingi, you up for a trip?” Mingi nodded and gently moved Yunho off before he grabbed his boots and followed Hongjoong. “First, the shaman to see where that guy went. We will confirm if this is the Dark Prince we are looking for.” Mingi nodded, looked a bit sleepy but his eyes cleared and became hard as he focused again on the task at hand. 

Hongjoong set a supportive hand on his mate’s shoulder as they walked the empty streets. All the doors were shut, lights shut off except for one that was decorated in what Hongjoong thought was ugly. He stepped into the entrance, swatting at the fabric as it clung to his coat. “Who's there?” Hongjoong turned into a room, the only open room and saw a woman sitting there. Oh, well, this was probably a waste of time for anyone seeking actual spiritual advice. She was obviously a fake dolled up in a costume. Hongjoong didn’t bother to take his shoes off, “Lookin’ fer a Dark Prince. Innkeeper said he sent him to you. Ya know where ‘e went off to?” The woman blinked, “A Dark Prince? I haven’t...uh. That one maybe. There was a man who came here asking about the recent killings. He went to the woods but he is probably dead by now. You would not find him alive if you were to look for him now.” Hongjoong nodded and went to leave before he paused at the door, “Lady, ya do a real shit job at imitatin’ a shaman. Might wanna rethink it.” The woman’s mouth fell open before she looked away shamefully. Hongjoong grinned as he met Mingi outside. “Woman said he went to the forest. Guess we gotta hunt this little Princey down.” Mingi followed and nearly stumbled when he saw the pile of bodies at the edge of the town. “That’s fucking creepy.” Hongjoong walked past the bodies and into the forest. It was quiet with just the smallest chirps of wildlife. They had been walking for some time. Hongjoong could hear the sea in the distance and his heart tugged painfully in his chest at the beautiful sound.

The reunion was cut short by a wail that was not quite human but not quite an animal either. The birds shot off and there were scuffles across the forest floor as animals made to get away from whatever it was that had called out in pain. Hongjoong picked up his pace towards the noise but stopped short slipping behind a tree when he saw two figures on the forest floor in the distance. He could barely make out the voices. 

A dark voice that sent shivers down his spine spoke calmly, as if he was speaking to a child. 

“Vampires can die. They die every day. Well, I don’t but some are burned alive at the stake, some have their hearts carved out. Some have their heads cleaved off. Hard to grow back an entire piece of you, really? You should have followed the rules. Stay quiet. Feed enough to survive. Don’t get greedy.” 

The other voice was not so smooth, not so pretty as it rasped out, “D-Dark P-p-prince. I will do b-better. I swear. I w-won’t be g-reedy.” 

Hongjoong exchanged a look with Mingi who was hiding behind the other tree. Mingi tried to peek around the tree but Hongjoong shook his head. They continued to listen.

“There are meanings behind myths, little one. Did the myths ever say that I let one of you go?” 

“Please!”

“No. Now, you have to pay the price for slaughtering villages and gorging yourself because you got a taste of power. You endangered all the vampires who live quietly as they were told. How should I end you then? I was once burned at the stake on that cliff. Should I recreate one of my many deaths for you as punishment?”

Hongjoong was frozen in his place for a moment. Vampires? Like the bloodsuckers from legends? He supposed that if there were witches then there was a place in the world for them but Hongjoong had never encountered one in his journeys. He had been all over the world and he had not heard of anything other than myths. Hongjoong had missed the sound of the two heading closer to the sea but Mingi was already following after them quietly so Hongjoong followed. 

Hongjoong settled behind the trees closer to darkness as he watched the tall cloaked man set the creature down gently before he looked out at the sea. Hongjoong could not see his face but the curve of his shoulders was familiar at least. It was...Hongjoong didn’t want to feel any sort of connection to this man who was holding the creature underneath him with both gentle yet murderous hands. 

“Would you look at the sea? It’s kind of bittersweet. Rolling for eternity. Neverending. Like this life that we have. A great companion to have in this eternity.” 

Hongjoong thought he saw the vampire become stone still and something uncomfortable stirred in his gut at the sight of someone else staring with so much emotion at the love of his life, the sea. Hongjoong swallowed down the tight feeling he was getting. He wasn’t here to sympathize with some creature. He was here to break the curse. 

“D-Dark Prince, I...am not a swimmer.” 

Hongjoong watched as the vampire turned his head. Hongjoong could see his face from here and he thought that maybe the Innkeeper hadn’t been lying but the sadistic smile that stretched across his face reminded him of the way San smiled down at the men he tortured in the belly of their ship. The man was smiling down at the vampire, teeth showing, white and shaped prettily, the canines just a little sharper than they should be. It was predatory and Hongjoong ignored the flush of arousal that shot through his stomach. 

“Don’t worry. I won’t throw you down. I wouldn’t want to taint the sea’s beautiful tide with your filth. Instead, I will tear out your heart here and you will gaze at her who will continue to roll eternally and know that this is where yours ended. It ended because you couldn’t control that greed.”

Hongjoong felt his own smile gracing his face at the words of the man. He wouldn’t want to taint the sea with something like that either. The creature underneath him was supposed to be a vampire. He was bloated and looked more stringy with unnecessary teeth than anything like the beauty of the man who crouched above him. Hongjoong watched in wonder as the man cut clean line with just his nails across the man’s belly. It wasn’t long after it had finished draining, the smile still gracing the man’s face even as he spoke that he stood and took the man’s heart with him before he crushed it and the creature fell into the ground with no more life in him. The man set fire to the corpse and stared only for a moment out to the sea before he turned back towards the forest. Hongjoong wasn’t really afraid because all the former emotion had bled out of the man’s face and only a soft but stoic expression settled on his features. He looked bored again as he recollected his things from the rock and then the man spoke again in that deep, soft voice that induced calm, “You can come out now. I can already tell that you aren’t the type to go yelling about vampires when you’ve got such a curse attached to your soul.” Mingi looked at Hongjoong who was still trying to figure out if they should step out to meet this man or retreat because the woman hadn’t said anything about this Dark Prince being able to see the curse. Or did he even see it or did he just feel it. Mingi looked at Hongjoong before he rolled his eyes and stepped out behind the tree and Hongjoong followed. The man who had looked calm before glanced at Mingi, face still stoic but surprise dancing in his eyes before his eyes landed on Hongjoong and he visibly stiffened. 

The man’s pose was stone still as he looked between both Mingi and Hongjoong and then he spoke slowly, “Curse or not, it is not a good idea for you to follow me. I have had years to perfect patience but there are some things that still push the limits. It would be better for you if you don’t seek me in the future.” The man said this carefully but all the while looked like he was choking, like he would rather be anywhere but there. Hongjoong gritted his teeth and took decisive steps forward until he was right in front of the man who looked pleadingly at Mingi. “Listen, Dark Prince, whatever the fuck they call ya. The witch told me the Dark Prince was the only one who’d be able t’lift me curse. I ain’t bout t’leave ya alone until that ‘appens.” Hongjoong had jabbed his finger into the vampires chest and at the contact Seonghwa was suddenly no longer standing in front of him but instead was standing closer to the forest’s edge. “Witches.” Seonghwa spoke with a gravelly voice, “She is trying to get you killed. If she is such a great witch, she would know that this would not end well for you.” Hongjoong scoffed, “Dead. Wouldn’t matter. I’d rather be dead than never sail th’sea ‘gain.” Mingi suddenly shoved him, “Cap’n!” Hongjoong just shoved him back, “Ya know it’s true. With this curse, I’ll never sail again. If I die, you mates can go back to the Aurora and sail off. So, Dark Prince, do ya understand?” The man narrowed his eyes on Hongjoong, “Who cursed you?” “A siren, stupid sea bitch.” “You killed someone of her kind, didn’t you?” Hongjoong grimaced, “She be tryin’ t’kill me mate ‘ere. I jus’ did m’duty as cap’n.” The man looked between the two and sighed, “I will return you to your friends. I know not whether my business in this place has finished. Until I am sure, two humans wandering the woods at night is not in your best interest.” 

The man began walking back so Hongjoong and Mingi followed. Each time that Hongjoong tried to match pace with the man he would either walk faster or fall back behind Mingi like Hongjoong was a disease. It was starting to piss him off. When they had reached the town again and passed the dead bodies, he saw the man pause by the bodies. “The villagers should burn the bodies before they start breeding diseases.” Hongjoong nodded at Mingi who disappeared towards their inn. “Mingi’ll take care o’ that. Come meet m’crew.” The man followed hesitantly. He didn’t seem to be breathing and Hongjoong huffed, “Your kind don’ need t’breathe or somethin’?” The man shook his head, “It’s more reflexive when we are relaxed we resort to our old habits. I don’t need to breathe however.” Hongjoong grinned before he slipped in the man’s space again, “You not relaxed. Mm. What’s got ya all tense?” The man’s eyes shimmered silver for a split second before he was leaning away again. Hongjoong’s smile widened at the obvious discomfort so he leaned in closer, “Do ya think m’pretty or somethin’? Mingi’s pretty but ya seem fine an all with ‘em.” Seonghwa had backed into the wall in front of the inn and was looking side to side. Hongjoong was almost pressed against him at this point. “Ya know, ya reminded me o’ my crewmate San when you were cuttin’ and talkin’ to that thing. But are ya shy? Is that t’ real face of the Dark Prince?” 

Hongjoong was no longer standing in front of Seonghwa but instead was pressed into the wall. Hongjoong could hear the wood on either side of his head break under the man’s hands. The man had his head bowed, “Seonghwa.” Hongjoong was out of breath, trying to get a grasp of the situation at hand. His hand almost reached for the sword at his side. “What?” The man grabbed his hand and placed it on the handle of his sword, “My name is not Dark Prince. It is Seonghwa. Don’t...don’t get close to me. If you see me like this again, use this sword to slice me open. I won’t die, but you will get away.” Hongjoong’s hand gripped the sword tighter and then Seonghwa raised his head. His eyes were completely silver, his plush lips were trembling slightly and it looked like his fangs were trying to peek through the small opening as Seonghwa drew a breath and then pushed himself away, taking chips from the siding of the building with him as he did so. “Temptation is not something that I have ever had to fight against in all my years alive. You do not want to provoke something that has been sleeping for so long.” Hongjoong watched as the silver eyes bled back to black and the flush in his lips faded, the pressing fangs disappearing. Hongjoong didn’t get a chance to respond as Mingi stumbled out of the entrance holding a large bottle of rum and a lantern. “Oh, Cap’n. The other’s er’waiting for ya.” Hongjoong nodded and gestured for Seonghwa to follow him. The man did so, pulling the scarf up over his face once again.

  
  



	5. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seonghwa meets the crew and Yunho tells him what the witch said. Seonghwa does not want to 'take' the Pirate King.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a whole chapter of Seonghwa kinda being in his head. A lot of his chapters will be like that. I am trying to portray the business of a mind that has seen eternity. Also, he is actually a bit of a pacifist unless provoked by things that he has deemed as wrong in the moral structure that he has created for himself through the years. I hope that his character is interesting for you. 
> 
> Also, I am trying to angle the language of the pirates not to the extremes that I sometimes see. I am aiming more for slurs in speech and syllables left out than an actual change in diction. 
> 
> Also, Yeosang is character that I always imagine as being a quiet thinker with moments of spontaneous emotions. I haven't decided yet what his range of provocations are in this story. Please be patient with me as I write this story with pure selfish desires.

Seonghwa wished that he could get away from this place. He had always found a peace when he had visited his home no matter the travesties that befell him in his homeland. After each wound that was sliced into his heart, he once again was able to stand up, gaze out at the land that was once his home and find some peace in it. Seonghwa wasn’t like the other immortals. He did not have the heart for ruthless revenge. His two vices where murder was the answer were the only vices wherein murder was the answer. He found peace because it was the only thing he could find. It was the only feeling that floated about that he could grasp. Peace. Peace was the quiet place devoid of the emotions that tried to sweep him away and drive him to madness. That was his peace. When he felt nothing at all and could leave the place that had wounded him so deeply without wiping out the entire village. He killed to teach a lesson and to survive. He had no other reason to kill. As of yet. He hoped he would never find another one. 

And yet, in all that peace that he clung to dearly in his life, he could find it nowhere now. Hongjoong was reckless. The Pirate King, he had heard that he was called. He had heard rumors of his precision. He had heard rumors of a Pirate King who laughed even bloodied up while he was slaughtering his enemies. Seonghwa did not think that the Captain would ever hold the kind of peace that he sought but he hadn’t thought from the stories that the Captain could be reckless. If he was as reckless with his crew as he was with his life, he wouldn’t have a crew to lead. 

Seonghwa clenched his fist and dug his nails into his palms as he followed the smaller man into the inn. The Innkeeper looked at Seonghwa with wide eyes, once again a flush taking over his features that made Seonghwa twitch this time. Seonghwa would see this crew, hear the full story of this witch. He wanted to track her down and take her head for bringing him these unnecessary obstacles in an immortal life where he couldn’t settle into one village to hide away anyway. He wanted to rip her apart for sending revealing to him a weakness that he had hoped to never have. Temptation. It was an archaic instinct in his kind. He wasn’t sure if he would have it because he hadn’t been reborn as a vampire. He had been made from delving into dark arts. His medicine man had begged for forgiveness 40 years after he had banished Seonghwa. Seonghwa had returned to the north at that time. 

He had felt the calling for the first time to return to the North. When he had gone to the cliff for the first time, he had not visited it when he had lived in the village, he had found the medicine man, now old and barely able to take in breathes, and he cried when he saw Seonghwa. The medicine man had already lived far past the time that the humans normally lived in this world and his heart could not bear to see the same man that had plagued his conscience over the years. He had begged for forgiveness because he had thought that Seonghwa was a vengeful soul who had come to torment him in his last moments. Seonghwa had explained that he was not dead, that he was very much alive but hadn't aged a day in all that time. The medicine man was appalled but when he had explained that he had searched through old text for a remedy and had mixed a few of them in hopes of recreating an elixir he had heard rumor of, he had created the thing that had birthed the man that Seonghwa was now. Incantations, blood sacrifice given to make the elixir potent enough to bring Seonghwa back from the cusp of death and he had created a being that needed blood to stay alive. The man had thought that it was his fault that rumors of the undead walking among the living had spread farwide across the land. Seonghwa insisted that that wasn’t the case. He had simply recreated a creature that had existed before. The man died with apologies on his lips and Seonghwa had left him there, without the ability to truly mourn the man because he had taken something from Seonghwa. Seonghwa could no longer die and he was cursed to find out that his life spanned much longer than the mere 40 years that he had lived in limbo, waiting for his body to just give out one day. 

That same helplessness was wracking his body now. Hongjoong made him feel like a newborn all over again, wanting, desiring, lusting after the thing that kept the man alive. He did not know the extent of his involvement in breaking this curse. He would find out what it was that the witch had said and then he would leave them. Hongjoong seemed to be withholding a very big piece of just what was expected of him to rid Hongjoong of this curse that kept him from returning to the sea. He would find out. 

When Hongjoong led him to the first room, he had directed Seonghwa to sit on the edge of the bed that had two other sleeping figures on it. One was a tall man, whose legs hung off the small bed and the other was a smaller one that was curled into a ball in the corner. Seonghwa could not see his face but there was a stark head of black hair that reflected in the moonlight, only disturbed by a section of hair that reflected the moonlight with equal power but was a startling white. Seonghwa sat down very carefully so he didn’t wake them because Hongjoong had not indicated that he should. Hongjoong stepped out again and he could hear the captain waking up the other members of the crew that he had chosen to bring with him. Seonghwa could not imagine that the entire crew had made the trek up this far into the mainland and left the ship unprotected. 

The door opened and revealed the one from before, Mingi, and he looked exhausted. He stiffened when he saw Seonghwa but then he relaxed again. “Oh, s’just you. Dark Prince, you sleep’n with th’crew?” Seonghwa shook his head and stood to give the small space to Mingi who took it with a dopey smile on his face. The tall man immediately cuddled into the other giant of a man who only uncurled his arms to sleepily take Mingi into them before his heart beat evened out once again. Seonghwa watched in fascination as the two clung to each other, obvious happiness radiating from them. He had never expected to see such soft emotions from two men who would probably give Seonghwa a hard time if he had to take them on. He also felt a stirring of jealousy. They could share their warmth like this, share their hearts like this and sleep peacefully. He had not had that luxury. He had never slept beside anyone after he had been cast out of his village. He had slept beside his family before he had gotten so sick he was shoved into the tent for the ones who were plagued. He had been the only one to hold on, bodies taken after they had died day by day until he was the only one left for the medicine man to act out his magic on. Seonghwa looked away and found that he was no longer alone in his thoughts but instead the boy who had been curled up in the corner was now looking at him with something dark twinkling in his eyes. The boy did not move, only looked at him. His eyes flitted up and down his body but he made no move to act out whatever it was that was formulating in his mind. Seonghwa leaned against the desk and watched the boy as well.

The mutual watching was broken by Hongjoong who opened the door and ushered in two other men. Hongjoong shoved Mingi’s leg off the bed with his foot. The boy fell to the floor, he had already been precariously perched on the edge, only held in by the other giant. Said giant, when Mingi was ripped from his grasp sat up with a blade in his hand and a murderous expression. Seonghwa blinked at him and Hongjoong just leveled a glare at the boy. The boy smiled sheepishly and put the blade back in its holder at his waist, “Oh, cap’n, you should warn m’when ya gonna tear Mingi from me.” Hongjoong just rolled his eyes, “Y’slept fer a bit now we gotta talk ‘bout this here Prince.” Yunho followed the hand that Hongjoong had held up and he flinched when he saw Seonghwa standing there and then realization came over his face, “Your t’weird boy Rose don’t like.” 

Rose? Oh, Rose of the Black Rose. Seonghwa knew that she wasn’t fond of him but he always paid for the full night. What did it matter if he only stayed for a few minutes. The women couldn’t really complain because they would be in a euphoric high every time. Seonghwa tilted his head to the side, he was smirking behind his mask, thankful that the movement wasn’t able to be caught by the other’s eyes. The one in the corner who had been watching him was grinning like he knew that Seonghwa found the thought funny. Seonghwa turned away from him because he wasn’t fond of being analysed by someone who so obviously thought pain was fun. 

Hongjoong, however, seemed to have forgotten about that little encounter because he was now laughing in surprise. “Ah, so we’ve met before.” Seonghwa shrugged, “We did not meet. We were in the same place at the same time, and if my memory serves me correctly, you left shortly thereafter.” Hongjoong ignored him as he introduced his crew. “These are m’mates that go on land. Jongho s’back on the ship. He keeps t’crew in line when m’gone.” Seonghwa assessed each one as he introduced them. Mingi he already knew but he was the first mate of the ship. Seonghwa was trying to understand how someone who could smile with such childlike freedom and cuddled into another pirate had the ruthlessness it took to be the first mate to the infamous Pirate King. 

Yunho was the jumpy giant. He was also in charge of cooking their meals. Hongjoong said he burned them more often than actually cooking them but they were edible so he couldn’t complain. Seonghwa imagined that the knife skills he possessed were more suited for killing than cooking up a homemade meal for the crew. The next one he introduced was a boy with delicate features but had dead eyes. He was Yeosang, the captain’s navigator. From the put out expression, Seonghwa imagined that the man had too many responsibilities. He noticed his frame was small but he still looked predatory standing there half asleep as the captain continued their introductions. The next one he introduced was Wooyoung. The man was entirely awake, looked very pissed off to be in that state and had been giving Seonghwa glares the entirety of his time standing at the door behind Hongjoong. His gaze was hard, only softening the slightest when he looked at the back of Captain’s head when he spoke before they hardened again as his gaze strayed back to Seonghwa. And then the Captain was introducing the man in the corner who was still grinning at Seonghwa. “That’s San. We keep ‘em in the nest cause he likes t’play with t’crew too much. I woulda fed ‘em to the sharks but the bastard keeps comin’ back alive.” San had finally unfolded from his position and was inching towards Seonghwa. Seonghwa just let him because it was better than having Hongjoong’s scent up his nose. 

The man was almost leaning into Seonghwa and he pulled on Seonghwa scarf until it uncurled from around his face. Seonghwa didn’t move to stop him because Hongjoong hadn’t cursed the kid yet for the action. San’s eyes sparkled, “Oh, cap’n he’s pretty. Can I ‘ave ‘em?” Wooyoung hissed out some cursed from between gritted teeth and made quick steps to grab San by the neck and jerk him away, “No you fuckin’ crow’s nest slut. He’s t’cap’n’s Prince so keep ya hands off.” San whined but didn’t fight against the arm that was now pressing into his throat. Seonghwa was more stuck on the expression, if he understood correctly because they all sounded like they slurred when they spoke, ‘he’s the captain’s prince.’ Seonghwa looked at the captain, expression blank but eyes stirring with some emotion he didn’t want to claim, “I belong to who? I was not aware that this greeting would turn into a discussion of ownership. I would appreciate an explanation, specifically what that witch told you. I am not known for being a powerful being who breaks curses. I prefer to not be known at all, actually.” 

The giant on the bed snickered, “Oh, cap’s not told ya er’thing? T’witch said t’curse be broken if cap’n let ya take him.” Oh. Well that made a lot of sense. If Seonghwa were to make the monumental mistake of ‘taking’ the Pirate King, at least within the implications of what the witch was speaking of, and he were to turn the Pirate King, a figure known in the sea as a person of bloodlust, then the curse would be broken because the process of turning Hongjoong would result in the absence of a human soul. Without his human soul, the curse would bleed out and die with nothing to cling to. Seonghwa had no intentions of turning a human being. He had long sworn that he would not turn another into what he was, no matter the dire circumstances at hand. Seonghwa let out a small laugh before he was laughing with no end. There was absolutely no way way that he was just going to turn Hongjoong. That was not within his moral compass and further from what would actually happen. Seonghwa would need to drink from Hongjoong until he was nearly dead, but not quite and then he would need to feed him his own blood. And that still did not cover all that he had to do if he wanted to turn the Pirate King. The Pirate King would have to be in a position where he was giving to Seonghwa for it to work, and normally, simply exchanging the blood would be enough but with the wild spirit that he held, he would not be giving up anything truly. He would have to bed the man until his mental faculties were gone and only then when the man could not think could he drain him dry and replace the emptiness with his own. All of that would certainly lead to Seonghwa unable to control himself and he would kill the man. That witch obviously wanted Hongjoong dead. 

Seonghwa had stopped laughing and the men were looking at him with mixed expressions of lust from San, curiosity from the dead eyed navigator and confusion from the giant boy on the bed. Seonghwa released a breath, “I will not be taking your captain. That witch wants you dead. Did you wrong her for her to send you all the way to this corner of hell with a death sentence?” Seonghwa shook his head and made for the door but the dead eyed navigator was standing there, blocking his way. “I assumed that when the Captain found you that you would be a vampire. I wasn’t entirely sure but…” Seonghwa felt a prick in his neck and saw that the navigator had slipped an arm behind him. Seonghwa felt that uncomfortable itching before his mind started to become foggy and he cursed, “Wha...fuck, wolfsbane.” And then his vision went black. 

  
  
  
  



	6. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seonghwa wakes to a cell that causes memories to resurface. He battles with his rage and with the creatures that wake within him his former hatred.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys...I'm on a roll today. Wow, here we go.

When Seonghwa woke again, he was no longer in the north. It didn’t feel like the cold familiarity of the north. He heard the sea, or rather, he felt the sea. Seonghwa did not move because his head was screaming in pain and his body felt numb. It had been a long time since he had been shot up with wolfsbane. He tried not to remember the last time because he knew that his rage would soon become all consuming. He blinked his eyes open, narrowing them again when he was blinded by the light that was filtering in through the small window. The sunlight didn’t exactly hurt him but it wasn’t comfortable. He blinked slowly again and was able to open his eyes fully. He was facing a wooden wall, it wasn’t filthy like the one of his past. It wasn’t lovely and there were remnants of blood stains within the wood but he was pleasantly surprised that he wasn’t bathing in filth as he had been the last time he had awoken with the dull ache in his head. Seonghwa stretched his arms, they moved easily. Yeosang must not have done enough research on the effects of wolfsbane on vampires, much less an old one like Seonghwa, because the only remnants of the vile flower was in the throbbing of his head. 

Seonghwa sat up slowly and looked at his surroundings more carefully. The cell he was in was covered by a very thick wooden door, variations of thick beams and steel bars like the wooden beams had been broken at one point in time and had been replaced by a more reliable source. The space he was in was small, a bowl of water set out like you would a dog. Seonghwa grimaced at the implications and stood on his feet. It had been a hundred years since he had been out to sea. The bittersweet surge in his gut each time he had to reunite with her kept him from riding across the unsteadiness of her hands more often than he absolutely needed to. He was not a man of the sea because he had too much of a grievance with the lady who stirred within it. Nevertheless, his legs had already adapted to the up and down that the ship encountered as it cut through. Seonghwa took a moment, searching for that peace, he only found fragments of it as the rage of his past tainted the peace of the present. He supposed he could only be so angry at his current captors because they had acted out of desperation, a sin that he had been a victim of himself at one time, but he still felt a bit of anger swelling that he was forced to relive a very unpleasant memory at the hands of that faulted desperation. 

Seonghwa’s anger lasts only a short time because his attention was drawn to the chaos that was possibly happening above on deck. It was the noise that he realized had awoken him from his drugged up stupor. There was a war going on above. And it seemed to be getting lower into the ship as the noise sounded closer and closer to the belly in which he was held. Seonghwa waited. He could very easily tear off the door but he doubted that would make his statement of desired peace from this predicament any better. The ones who were destroying the peace above did not seem to share that sentiment because down from the stairs came a bloodied pirate, he did not recognize him who looked more scrawny and uncomposed than the crew he had been introduced to. The man looked at whoever was coming at him with wide eyes and shuffled backwards before he saw that the prisoner was very awake. The pirate cursed but his cursing was cut short by a disgusting stench attached to a blade. Seonghwa wrinkled his nose in disgust. 

He had been alive long enough to know of all the creatures of the deep. Siren’s were among the few that were harder to deal with unless you had a strong mind or wax was stuff in your ears. This one that was blinking at him through the bars was easy to combat with but an annoyance to kill. They were the result of men sinking with their regrets and greed. Men who lived for the sea would find themselves become part of it when they died with their hearts turned dark by greed. This one was one of them. His eyes were barely human, dark orbs that clicked open and shut with an grotesque shield of skin that would occasionally slide across the ball to wet it again but the actual remains of the human eyelid remained unblinking. His skin was rotten from years spent in the water turning the flesh to mush from the high levels of salt it was forced to absorb. Gills that flapped uselessly on his neck and Seonghwa hated looking at them. Half man and half fish, one of the sea's lesser creations. 

The creature blinked once again at Seonghwa before it grinned and made for the door. The creature tugged on it and Seonghwa flinched at the sound its swollen fingers made against the course wood. The creature kept tugging but Seonghwa’s vision was elsewhere. The blood that was seeping from the pirate was trickling slowly into his cell as the boat rocked unevenly. It’s captain was obviously preoccupied as the boat was guided by no one causing the motions to become violent. This gave the blood and the slime oozing from shallow slashes in the creature's side the perfect momentum dirty up his sacred space. Seonghwa snarled, “Disgusting creatures with all of your slime. This is why the dead should remain so. You tainted souls come back to wreak havoc on the living, leaving behind excrement like its a gift to this world.” Seonghwa kicked the door with enough force that both the door and the creature went flying to the other. Seonghwa picked up the sword that had fallen from the pirate and glared at the creature that was dumbly trying to push the door away from its rotting frame. 

Seonghwa did him the favor of release by driving the sword through its head. He made sure to keep as far away from the creature so that when it died not a drop of its body or its fluid would make it to his clothes. Seonghwa withdrew the sword and made harsh steps up the stairs. There were pirates fighting on the level above him and he just drove the sword through the heads of the ones closest to him without stopping to stop the ones who were further away. He was pissed at the captain of this ship for putting him in a situation where each time he blinked he saw a cold cellar, rat feces, human entrails, a guard with blood staining his already pissed on clothes. 

When Seonghwa made it to the deck, it was utter chaos. He blinked to adjust to the onslaught of the sunlight that beat down on his skin in a burning way. San was to his right, giggling as he made slice after slice in the sides of the man who was missing one arm, tentacles curling around the sleeve of what he had assumed once in case an arm before some creature had eaten it. Seonghwa tore his eyes away as another one of the creatures ran towards him. He stepped to the side, slashing through its neck with such rage that the blade cut through the thickened base with ease. The head rolled and the body fell but Seonghwa was already looking for that stupid Pirate King. He saw Mingi first who was struggling against two creatures. He didn’t look to be at a disadvantage despite the size of his opponents so Seonghwa kept walking. He saw Wooyoung trying to spear a creature that just kept coming at him. Seonghwa drove his sword through the skull and glared at the boy as the body dropped, “The head, Wooyoung. They are already dead. Spearing them won’t do anything. Where is your captain?” The boy scoffed but ran off, hopefully to take Seonghwa’s advice but had not given him an answer as Seonghwa sneered as he continued his walk. Then he heard the laughter. 

The captain was above him, laughing wildly with life in his eyes, his chest flushed with joy as he switched from holding the wheel and fighting off creatures who seemed to swarm around him. Seonghwa felt a jerk in his chest at the smile that graced that Captain’s face but he pushed down as he made easy work of jumping up from the deck and onto the railing that stood in front of the wheel. Hongjoong twisted as Seonghwa’s frame created a shadow at his back. Seonghwa looked down at the man with rage boiling in his chest, “Captain.” 

\--

Hongjoong knew that going out to sea was not something that he should be doing in the face of what they had to encounter on their trip to the north. But Hongjoong was also a bit pissed off at that witch. Hongjoong was not afraid of death. If he were to die at sea or on one of his journey’s in search of treasure, he would feel no regret. But there was something about someone else plotting your death that just unsettled you. Hongjoong had heard the words that Seonghwa had spoken of the witch wanting him dead. Hongjoong didn’t understand what he could have possibly meant but the reaction and the firm denial of ‘taking’ him had led Hongjoong to believe that there was something a bit more complicated than just fucking the Dark Prince. That witch had a grudge against him, a grudge that Hongjoong could only claim was somewhat justifiable. But a curse on his body was payment enough. His entire body was in pain. He was bleeding from his chest in a steady stream as he had told his crew to kill the bastards. He wouldn’t die from just a bleeding wound on his chest. He had suffered worse. He was fighting the creatures as he tried to maintain the wheel so the ship didn’t steer off as they were getting closer to the Devil’s trench. They were going to visit that damned witch and Hongjoong was going to kill her. 

Hongjoong was fighting the creatures when a shadow loomed over his shoulder. He jerked because he hadn’t seen one of the creatures crawling up behind him but when he turned his breath caught in his throat. Standing there above him was a murderous creature with pitch black hair and a grimace distorting his beautiful features. The voice that came from that creature was dark, smooth like a poison that slid down your throat and burned everything on its way down until there was a bleeding hole in your stomach, “Captain.” The creature jumped down and with merciless precision beheaded the closest creature. Seonghwa fought with the creatures who had abandoned his crew and swarmed to the bridge. Seonghwa’s face was stoic, his face only crumpling into an expression of disgust when he was standing in a pile of bodies and glaring at the captain. The Captain gripped the wheel behind him as he looked at the man. The vampire’s eyes were silver again, his eyes trained on the bleeding wound that was soaking through Hongjoong’s shirt. Seonghwa threw the sword down, rolled up his sleeve and sliced the soft looking skin open with a finger nail and then he was in front of Hongjoong holding his head back with a brutal grip in his hair as he forced Hongjoong’s mouth to the bleeding wound and with a snarl said, “Drink.” 

Hongjoong choked on the liquid as it slid down his throat. It was thick like honey and tasted both metallic and heady as it warmed in his chest. Seonghwa released his grip and pulled away, wiping his wrist with a handkerchief he had pulled from his pocket. Hongjoong coughed as he watched the wound on his chest close. Hongjoong looked up at the man who was looking past him with an expression that said that he thought the situation was unpleasant, vile, disgusting, dirty,  _ unclean.  _ “That will keep them at bay for only a short time. In that short time, I want off this boat.” Seonghwa stepped over the corpses and walked down the stairs to the main deck where Yeosang was looking at him. Hongjoong just watched him go with a heat churning his gut. 


	7. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pirates are everything that Seonghwa is not. They are reckless and warm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a filler chapter, really, while we travel to our next destination. We see a bit further into Seonghwa's psyche, our temperamental vampire who is just really fed up with the whims of pirates. Seonghwa hasn't fed in a few weeks and he's used some of his blood to patch up Hongjoong. Wonder what the next chapter will do with that. Hmmm :) ( I hate that little smiley but it just somehow fit here?)

Seonghwa stood before Yeosang, the rage and hunger simmering down as he even his gaze at the navigator. Yeosang had that same dead look in his eyes as he stood before the vampire. “Dearest navigator, please do not provoke me to murder.” Yeosang did not respond with words but rather looked at the man who was on the bridge behind Seonghwa and then back at Seonghwa. Seonghwa’s tense frame was then hugged by a shorter figure. Seonghwa looked at the head of black and white hair that was tucked under his chin. The man was surprisingly dry of any drops of the matter that acted as blood for the creatures so Seonghwa just let the man cling to him, knowing that if he pushed him away it would only encourage the flame in the man’s eyes to grow brighter. 

He felt the laughter rumbling in the man’s chest, “Cap’n got such an interesting one this time, don’cha think, Sangie? Say, Cap won’t let ya take ‘em but you can take me.” Seonghwa pushed down the emotions that wretched in his chest at the sentence. He wasn’t sure if it was revolting or intriguing, the two emotions having been intertwined into unnecessity as they were emotions he no longer wished to need. He gently placed hands on San’s shoulders and pushed him away. “I do not wish to take any of you, especially in the sense that the witch implied.” Yeosang’s dead eyes narrowed inquisitively at that, “What was the way the witch implied?” Seonghwa met the gaze of the man with his own, “Ask the witch but I am sure you know of the way in which I am speaking.” 

There were grunts behind them and Seonghwa looked to see that crew members were tossing the dead back into the sea and Hongjoong was standing once more behind the wheel with that expression that made Seonghwa’s head dizzy except now the confident smirk was tainted red with Seonghwa’s blood. “Back to ‘ya post! To the easten isles!” Seonghwa turned away as his spine tickled with something that made the hair on stand on end. “What’s in the eastern isles?” San, who had already sucked up to his side again grinned, “The witch. Cap’n won’t let us meet ‘er. Only Yunyun and Sangie can go.” “San! To ‘ya post ‘fore I gut you on deck.” San drew away with a pout but ran to the mast and vaulted himself up the side as he climbed to the nest. When he was up in the nest he sent a wink in Seonghwa’s direction. Seonghwa just boredly blinked back at him before he turned to Yeosang, “I need a bucket and a scrubbing stone. My cell was defiled.” Yeosang actually raised a brow with some expression of interest at this and then with a smile he held out a hand in a direction for Seonghwa to follow. 

  
  


The ship was quiet. Night had fallen on the ship and Seonghwa had settled back in the cell, now scrubbed until not a remnant of new or old blood remained. The door was propped against the front of the cell. Seonghwa settled against the wall. He had long chucked his coat as it had been stained in his fight. He wanted to throw it into the ocean to get the disgusting thing as far away as he could but the cold spray of the ocean made him keep it instead. He wouldn’t die of the cold but the habits of his humanity still made him hold onto the desire to layer on clothes to fight against the cold. It was a habit he welcomed as it provided him with a warmth that mimicked the warmth he had felt when he was a human, wrapped in the embrace as he was lulled to sleep by the crackling of the fire in the corner of the hut and the warmth of the arms that clung to his frame. His younger siblings. 

The deck above was lively. The ship was longer barreling at a brutal pace but had instead steadied to a gentle rolling across the dark ocean surface. The image of Mingi clinging to Yunho kept coming to the surface of his thoughts, the pleasantness and jealousy imprinted in his mind and he bitterly clenched his fist at the hollow filling the memories of his youth and the reminder of what he had lost floating to the forefront of his mind. Seonghwa imagined they were probably drinking if the shrieking laughter above was any indication. Humans were most predictable with alcohol in their system. He had watched through the dark corners of alleys and pubs and almost laughed at the predictability of their drunken smiles and hooded eyes. 

Uneven steps sounded as someone came down the steps into the belly of the ship. Seonghwa watched through the space in the bars as a dark head of hair was bowed, legs unsteady like he had lost his sea legs when he picked up the bottle of rum. Seonghwa let out a laugh at the hazy expression that peeked out from behind the bangs that lay untethered by the headband that had kept the strands away from his eyes when Seonghwa had seen him on deck in the daylight. Wooyoung had a blurry gaze and a grim expression as he grasped onto the post to the entrance of Seonghwa’s cell. Wooyoung’s eyes blinked blearily at the coat that was folded carefully in the corner before his eyes trailed across the spotless wood and to Seonghwa who was sitting relaxed in the corner, silk shirt laying slightly open as he had tugged the tight webbing loose as he had cleaned. Seonghwa bit back a smile as the blurr settled into a heat when Wooyoung stumbled closer. “Vampire, uh? S’tha’weird. R’they all pretty?” Seonghwa caught Wooyoung as he stumbled, taking the bottle of rum from his loose grip and set it down beside them. “No. They are not all pretty. And I am not that pretty. You are just very drunk.” Wooyoung blinked up at him before clambering in his lap. Seonghwa caught his hips and pushed so the boy was sitting on his legs instead of up against his chest as the boy was so obviously insistent on. “San won’stop talkin’ bout it. Wants it. Pisses m’off.” Seonghwa sighed. 

Pirates were strange. He had heard a lot about them, never seeking their company because their general lifestyle clashed with his own so harshly. But he had heard that they were...communal. He wondered where jealousy had a home in a place like that. But Wooyoung was obviously jealous but he was something else right now too. Seonghwa pushed the boy off and stood himself before he scooped both the rum and the boy up. Wooyoung squealed at the sudden action and kicked a bit but Seonghwa just settled him over his shoulder before he made the trek up the stairs through the layers of the ship until he was standing on deck. The deck was scattered with various groups of drunk pirates, some dozing off, some leaning closely and the loudest group was Mingi, San and Hongjoong in some mess below the bridge while Yeosang gazed at the disapprovingly. Seonghwa stopped in front of the group that had the Captain grinning at something San was whispering in his ear. And then the glazed over eyes of the Captain settled on Seonghwa standing there with Wooyoung over his shoulder. Seonghwa had a soft smile on his face and even he could admit his voice was laced with mirth, “Captain, one of your crew members got a little lost.” Seonghwa let Wooyoung slip from his shoulder. The boy stumbled and came crashing down into San before he erupted in giggles. “Vampires r’strong, Sannie. Bet h’could rail ya w’one ‘and ‘hind his--” A hiccup and giggles interrupted before he said, “‘hind his back.” Hongjoong wasn’t giggling but was staring up at Seonghwa with a mixed expression like his drunk brain couldn’t quite connect what he was seeing to what was being said and then what was mixing in his mind. Seonghwa bowed politely before he spoke with a broad smile, teeth on display, “Wooyoung, technically speaking, my hands would be very much occupied with other things if the situation of me, railing as you said, were ever to occur on this ship. But as it stands, regrettably, I will have to decline.” San was kissing Wooyoung’s neck as he said this so Wooyoung just whined something along the lines of Seonghwa being stingy, a prude or some other insult in response to his rejection but the Captain was stumbling to his feet before he was up in Seonghwa’s space again. Seonghwa gritted his teeth as the nauseatingly sweet scent clouded his space. The captain sounded bratty when he spoke, a brattiness that for a moment Seonghwa’s hands want to choke down, “Woo w’take it but I ain’t ‘bout to take n’thing, pretty. Ya would be begging me.” There was a deathly grip on Seonghwa’s wrist, the Captain’s rings dug into his skin and Seonghwa glared down at him, “Captain. I did not imagine in all the tales that I have heard that recklessness would be one of the qualities that you boasted so well.” 

Seonghwa peeled the hand away from his wrist, his own bruising grip turning on the Captain as he shoved him away into the group on the ground. There were catcalls as the Captain laughed, body sprawled out, titling his head back as he eyed Seonghwa with lustful eyes. Seonghwa scoffed in his head that a man who insisted he wouldn’t be taking anything was laid out before him with a blissed out expression that begged Seonghwa to take the bite, to just wreck the small man before him. Seonghwa turned on his heel and headed to the stairs. Pirates were a menace. He could almost understand why the navy was damn set on wiping them out. 


	8. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seonghwa learns a new kind of rage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah...another one?

Whatever it was the Seonghwa had done when he had forced his blood down Hongjoong’s throat had seemed to work. The ship had not been plagued by creatures of sea and the ocean had not tried to swallow his ship since. The warmth had followed Hongjoong even after Seonghwa had disappeared into the ship, a bitter expression on his face, with a bucket. Yeosang had almost cracked a smile when he had relayed that the vampire seemed to be attached to cleanliness. Hongjoong had thought that it was a trait that had a home with but contradicted the vampire. 

The vampire very rarely came up onto the deck as they made their journey to the east. He would occasionally come up to stare out at the ocean with a somber expression but he rarely made the trip because San would drop from his nest to harass the man. There was a new member of his crew who had grown attached to the vampire. Wooyoung had joined San in his ridiculous quest to get the vampire to bed one of them or both. It looked more like both from the little smiles that Wooyoung threw between the vampire who looked bored and San who watched with rapt attention from above. 

Creatures of the sea weren’t the only enemies that Hongjoong had to worry about however. Hongjoong had not been watching the horizon but rather he had been watching Seonghwa who had come up for his daily routine of looking out to the sea. Seonghwa had looked almost peaceful until he had visibility stiffened and looked back at Hongjoong. When their gaze connected Seonghwa just voicelessly jerked his head forward at the same time San was yelling, “Ship off t’starboard bow, Cap’n!” It was off the distance, but Hongjoong could see that the deck was bustling with activity. He looked at the flag and cursed. “S’the damn Byron. Get ready! Bastard’s got a grudge.” The men on his deck sprung into action. Hongjoong made maneuvers to outrun them, barking out orders to Wooyoung and Mingi as they ran to keep up with his voice. He wasn’t afraid of a fight but they were running on a clock. Hongjoong knew that he didn’t have to run from sea creatures at the moment, but Seonghwa hadn’t said how long that would last. 

The calm voice beside him startled him a bit as he kept an eye on the ship that was fast approaching, “I’m assuming you pissed him off.” Hongjoong scoffed, “More like ‘e pissed m’off. Fucker killed ‘alf m’crew when I was a kid. Always had it out fer me ‘cause I didn’t die when he tried to cut me and pushed me off. Mingi, hard turn to port!” “Yes cap’n.” Hongjoong glanced at Seonghwa who had a dark expression on his face. Byron’s ship was gaining on them. Not yet close enough to board but it was getting closer too quickly. “Get ready to be boarded lads! No prisoners. Kill’em all!” The ships were close to crashing together at the speed that the other ship was barreling towards them. The ship shook as they slid against each other and the deck was flooded with the men of Byron’s ship spilling onto the deck like a vengeful tide.

\--

Seonghwa did not want to confront the burning rage in his chest. When Seonghwa had first seen the ship approaching, he had thought to go down below and let the pirate’s sort it out, but as he had watched the emotions flashing across the captain’s face, he had opted instead to inquire. The emotions that lay there on Hongjoong’s face. Rage. Determination. Loss. It was the loss that had forced his frozen legs to make the steps towards the man. When Hongjoong had said the man had tried to kill him, practically left him for dead, that anger that coursed through him, the feeling of being alive when he tracked down those swollen bellied vampires had erupted within him. He did not want to explain to himself why he was now placing that almost childish joy and matured rage at tracking down a greedy vampire was now being shifted to the idea of gutting the man who had sought Hongjoong’s life. 

Seonghwa jumped down onto the deck, the men who had not slipped into immediate combat with the crew on deck turned to him ready to swing their weapons, fire their guns but paused when they looked at the man before them. Silver eyes, wild eyes. Eyes that looked like they could drink in the souls of the men before him. What they really looked at was the snarl on his face, fangs not dropped but his teeth were blinding, canines sharp even without his fangs out, ready to tear into their flesh. He has no weapon but his nails elongate as he surges towards them. They have no chance in the face of his rage. It had been brewing since had been drug onto this ship, forced to relive memories and mirrors of his past that were unattainable. The rage resulted from nostalgia and the protective rage in the face of a captain that looked both lost and vengeful mixed together until he could feel nothing, hear nothing as he tore his way through the crew that had tried to overtake the ship. He found himself standing face to face with the captain of the ship who was shaking, pissing his pants as he looked at Seonghwa who despite being smaller than the man, towered over him. “P-parlay. Pirate King Hongjoong! Parlay!” “Seonghwa.” Seonghwa had nearly dug his fingers into the man’s chest but at the sound of Hongjoong calling for him he stopped. “Pirates ‘ave rules. He declared parlay. Crews dead anyhow.” Seonghwa forced the rage to subside, the pieces of peace were harder to grasp now, buried beneath the pieces of his life that had resurfaced. He stumbles off the enemy ship and back onto the Aurora. He looks at the Captain who is watching him, an expression that he doesn’t understand, doesn’t know. “We’ll push off ‘n leave ‘em.” Seonghwa nods, looks down at his blood soaked clothes with a grimace until San is screaming from above. “Captain!” Seonghwa’s head snaps up and sees the other captain, Byron, had leveled his rifle at Hongjoong who had turned his back to speak to Mingi. Seonghwa was on the bridge and felt the bullet sink into his chest. All was still as the shot rang through the air. Seonghwa stumbled back only to be caught by small arms and the smell of lotus flowers. Seonghwa dazedly looked up at the Captain before he felt his voice leave his throat, “Can I kill him now, Captain?” Hongjoong looked down at him with a hard expression, “Rip his guts out and string ‘em up for others t’find.” Seonghwa nodded, peeling away from Hongjoong and doing what his Captain has asked of him. His…Captain. 

\--

Seonghwa was lying in a room on a bed. It was the medic room if the boxes of brutal looking saws and a satchel of needs were anything to go by. After he had gutted the captain and returned to the ship, Seonghwa had taken one look at Hongjoong and forced his steps away. He gritted his teeth because he was  _ hungry.  _ He needed to feed. It had been too long since he had last fed. His once a month was coming up and he had lost blood. The hole in his chest was trying to close up and force the bullet out but he would need to dig it out if he wanted his last feed to last that much longer. Wooyoung burst into the room, “Uh, I’m the doc ‘ere, a really bad’n. I’ve neva worked on a vamp before.” Seonghwa sighed, “Just rip the bullet out Wooyoung. When it's out, I’ll heal right up.” Wooyoung grabbed a pair of pliers, Seonghwa grimaced at the rust on them, “Next time we anchor, I’m buying you neanderthals new supplies. That’s so unhealthy.” Wooyoung blushed in embarrassment but dug them into Seonghwa chest, searching for the bullet. Seonghwa grit his teeth, a deep growl stirring in his chest as the pain wracked his body. “S’that mean ya gonna stay with us?” Seonghwa blinked his eyes opened, “No.”

No, Seonghwa was not going to stay with them. He wasn’t going to force himself to relieve each of the memories that had nearly faded into nothingness. He wasn’t going to force himself to bath in lotus flowers each day. He wasn’t going to allow the rage against the greed of his own kind to twist and become rage against all who would harm the lotus flower that laughed in his face, taunted him, tempted him and called him closer without ever having to lift a finger or open their mouth. Seonghwa felt his throat go dry as he looked at Wooyoung, “Tell the captain I need to get to land soon. I need to feed.” Wooyoung’s eyes widened at that, “F-feed? Like, ya kind really eat people?” Seonghwa let his head roll back as he stared at the ceiling, exasperated, “No, Wooyoung, we don’t eat people. They won’t even know I’ve fed. They just feel like they’ve had a very good orgasm with a stranger.” 

Wooyoung grinned and leaned in closer to Seonghwa, “Hm? Then can ya feed from me, uh? Don’t gotta fuck me, just d’that?” Seonghwa smirked, a hand threading into the man’s hair as he let his eyes go silver, his fangs elongating as he smiled, “Ya sure bout that? It might hurt.” Wooyoung didn’t pull away, he stared at the fangs with a nearly drunken expression before his throat bobbed at the implication. “Ya just gotta bite me. I don’ mind. Would be nice. And San would be jealous.” Seonghwa pushed him away as the door opened. Yunho stepped into the room, “Wooyoung, cap’n needs you above deck.” 

Seonghwa relaxed as Yunho shoved Wooyoung out of the room and replaced his place at the chair. Yunho looked up at him with a soft smile, “Cap’n figured Wooyoung might let ya bleed out in favor o’ flirtin’ with ya.” Seonghwa shook his head, “He pulled the bullet out. The rest is up to my body to do. I don’t think Wooyoung is in the right mind to relay my message but I need someone to tell the Captain I need to feed. I need to get to land and feed. Don’t want to feed on anyone onboard.” Yunho nodded, “I’ll tell ‘em. Lemme see that hole. Wooyoung is the only one who can stitch ya up ‘n not take extra skin with ‘em. But he’s horrid at diggin’ bullets out.” Seonghwa found himself laughing as Yunho pulled his shirt aside and started cursing about the obvious tears of his skin from where Wooyoung had dug into the wound to dig for the bullet. Seonghwa didn’t mind this warmth as much as he should. 


	9. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seonghwa goes to shop while the crew gets wasted at the pub. He stumbles across a problem with a smith who is a giant of a man and harbors a gleaming metal cross above his door, not that that means much to Seonghwa.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, me hearties. No? Yeah, stereotypical pirate speak blegh. BUT I am actually pretty okay with this chapter despite the headache hitting me as I write it. I'll be back again with a Hongjoong chapter after this. But we get to see a little bit of Seonghwa's headspace when he hasn't had blood for a while. Not like deep headspace mind you but he is a bit flighty. So here is another chapter and then we gonna get onto the adventure and encounter with our witchy friend.

Seonghwa could hear Hongjoong yelling from his home in the belly of the ship. He glanced out the window and saw that the sun had nearly set, a fog had settled as the temperature of the day died away and sea dematerialized into the air to kiss the shore, to dampen the clothes of the people quickly trekking across the port. It was a site he was quite familiar with but to see it from the other side as someone coming to the island instead of watching the wobbly legs as they adjusted back to land come towards whatever pub that Seonghwa was skulking outside of. 

Seonghwa grabbed his coat, he had scrubbed at the stains until the fabric looked worn. He swore to get a new one on this stop. He would go with the pirates to see the witch. He would decide whether he wanted to kill her himself or let Hongjoong do it when he saw her. He knew that she had to have some kind of power to be able to rat out his location and the name of the myth that had followed Seonghwa after the first few vampires he had killed. Still, his stay with these pirates was temporary and they knew it. 

As Seonghwa shrugged on his coat and looked at the crew that was making their way off the boat, he saw the weary eyes of Wooyoung. His eyes were pleading, an attachment already settled to Seonghwa that he had not encouraged and wondered how it had taken root, begging Seonghwa to stay for one more journey. San looked to be giving the same message, but it was a pleading gaze. It was demanding. Seonghwa looked up at the sky, letting his breath fan out, his the only gust of breath that wasn’t fogging up the air as the air that strung out of his lungs was cooler than the frigid air of sunset. The stars were just beginning to peak out as the power of the sun grew weaker, Seonghwa’s skin softening in comfort as its harsh rays fell behind the horizon. “The night markets’ll be open soon. They’ll try t’swindle ya out’ya money s’be aggressive.” 

Seonghwa broke his stare at a brighter star and greeted a new set of stars that shifted in Hongjoong’s laughing eyes. The sun did not fight to keep those stars at bay in the daylight, an unsettling realization that Seonghwa had had shortly after he had been released from the healing room. Seonghwa nodded at the man and headed off. 

He was snatched up by San and Wooyoung when he made it down to the port, “Seonghwa, won’t ya spend some time w’us at the pub? Ya never drink with t’crew. It’s sad.” Seonghwa couldn’t help the soft smile on his face as the duo tried to drag him towards the pub that looked as though it had been slammed down as a whole piece into the muddy foundations of the port. “No, boys, I’ve got some shopping to do. New tools for Wooyoung so he can properly torture his patients and a coat for me that isn’t frayed and stained by sea trash.” The duo pouted, San’s grip increasing before Seonghwa finally convinced them to go inside the pub. He could already hear Mingi’s laugh above the chaos inside. 

The boys went off to play, as San had said it, and Seonghwa wandered up the streets, following the glow of light. The space of vendors was loud, bodies brushing past him, making his nose screw up underneath the scarf that was wrapped around his face. It smelled like rum, piss, sex, just overall filth. Seonghwa’s hands itched to set fire to the stalls but he thought better of it as he saw a stall that had clothes hanging from it. There were sheer shirts that caught his eye. Those were always breezy, they felt nice against his body, especially with the nice weight of a coat pressing the fabric into his skin. He got closer to the stall, his satchel kept snug around his waist underneath the coat he wore now. “How much for the shirt?” The older lady at the stall peaked up at him, weighing his appearance before she smiled, “10 silver coins.” Seonghwa wanted to roll his eyes. 10 silver coins, enough to buy a case of rum. Seonghwa pulled his scarf down, and his hat off before he even his gaze at her again, a crooked smile as he said, “Sorry, I couldn’t hear you. The shirt?” The woman blinked up at him with a coy smile, “Oh, I said the shirt was 2 silver coins. Did anything else catch your eye dear?” Seonghwa nodded and let his eyes wonder to a coat. It looked like something Hongjoong would wear. It was big, fur collar and brown tones. He didn’t know why he wanted to buy it, wrap it around Hongjoong like a protective seal, but he dropped the feeling and looked at the coat next to it. It was a heavy material, the body black material look almost suedge, the color set high and the coat hung long on the hanger. “This black one please and the sheer shirt.” The woman nodded as she gathered the clothes, shoving them into a burlap bag. She told him the total and he reached into his bag to retrieve the amount. When he handed over the money something caught his eye. On the table was what looked like a half corset with a leather harness that would hook across the chest and over the shoulders. The fabric of the corset was beautiful embroidered with shining thread. “Ma’am, this piece here. Can I add this to my things?” The woman looked at the piece of blushed as she looked between the piece and the bit of Seonghwa’s torso that was exposed, “Of course, dear. Not many seek to buy. I’ll give you a discount.” Seonghwa nodded and smiled kindly at the woman. 

He stopped at a few more stalls, unable to find anything to replace the absolute terror of tools that Wooyoung kept aboard. He asked around until they directed him towards a smith who sometimes took orders for medical equipment. Seonghwa slung the burlap sack of his shoulder as he wandered through the dark streets looking for the smith’s place the last vendor had described. Seonghwa was getting a bad feeling about the shifting shadows of the alley. He opened his senses but the place smelled the same as the street of vendors. Seonghwa grimaced, once again impressed with the sheer magnitude of filth that humans were able to impress upon their surroundings. 

Seonghwa stopped before a large building that had a family logo and ‘ **Generations of Smiths”** spelt with metal letters. Above the door was an equally painstakingly forged cross. Seonghwa deadpanned. How many religious smithers were there in the world and why had he needed tools in the one town that had a religious smith. Vampires, contrary to the desperation of humanity’s calling onto their monnotheistic God, felt no physical repulsion from a cross or incantations. The only repulsion he felt was the annoyance that followed. Normally, in circumstances of religious execution, he just let it happen. He would wake up days later still nailed to a stake, buried in the ground or resting on a pile of ashes. He would be sore but he would be fine. He hoped that what awaited him behind the door wasn’t a fanatic and just a faithful man. 

Seonghwa knocked on the door. There was no sound from the other side, so Seonghwa knocked again. This time, a young boy came to the door. Seonghwa tried to smile, close lipped in politeness, “Hello, I hope that I did not wake you.” The boy shook his head and eyed Seonghwa with a narrow gaze, “Whatcha need?” Seonghwa opened his satchel to retrieve the pair of pliers, rusted that Wooyoung had kept on the ship. “Our resident doctor has let his tools become rusted. I was hoping to find someone who sold medical tools. I was told that your company fulfilled those requests. I am afraid we can not place an order, but rather I wondered if you had some that were available to buy.” The boy nodded and stepped aside. Seonghwa followed him in. Seonghwa could feel the heat from the back. The boy called out for someone, his Uncle, and a large man turned the corner. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, just a leathered apron and leather gloves. He was glistening with sweat and perhaps was the largest man that Seonghwa had ever seen. “Who’s this, boy?” The boy shrugged, “Said he wants to look at our medical supplies. His ship is takin’ off tomorrow so he wants to buy what we got.” Seonghwa bowed politely but the man narrowed his gaze much like the boy had, “Kinda pale to be a ship man, boy.” Seonghwa smiled, uncomfortably now, “I spend all of my time down under and have not been with them for a long time. This is my last favor. I am returning before I separate from them. I would appreciate your help in this matter.” The man grunted and directed Seonghwa towards a back room. There were shelves upon shelves in the place with anything from silverware waiting to be polished and sold to candle holders. They were pretty, ornate, nothing like what the rough hands that the man had gripped his hammer with. 

Seonghwa tried not to let the pit of dread leak into his voice, “You are very gifted with this craft. These are beautiful pieces. I would have very much loved them at one time.” The man grunted again before he moved a crate from a shelf. “These’r tools made fer a doctor in town. He never picked ‘em cause he died in a pub fight. The whole case is 30 silver pieces.” Seonghwa wasn’t going to try to bargon with someone who was becoming progressively aggressive in his gaze so he picked out the silver pieces and dropped them on the table between them. Seonghwa carefully picked up the case and tried not to look like he had picked it up with any more ease than the mountain of a man before him had. “Thank you, sir, I will make sure to tell my leader that you were very helpful. Have a good night.” 

Seonghwa was very thankful to leave the Smith’s. He followed the wild sound of drunken laughter to make it back to the port, keeping an open ear to the path behind him. He wasn’t fond of the idea of having to drop his newly bought clothes and his newly bought supplies for Wooyoung for the sake of a fight that he was equally uninterested in. He was nearly back to the ship when his singular footsteps on the port had become two. Seonghwa paused and turned. It was the smither, now wearing a coat over his leather apron, some shining weapon in his hand. Seonghwa sighed, “Mr. Smither, did I perhaps count short on the silver pieces.” The smith shook his head, “Those were old pieces. Hundreds of years old.” Seonghwa nodded, “Silver is silver, I believe, no matter the age.” “You were able to cross through my door without the owner of the place inviting you in, the cross meant nothing, but there is something not right about you.” Ah, the cross, the supposed need to be invited into the threshold. Seonghwa smiled softly, “The owner of the house? Surely the boy would have been good enough to invite a monster in. And a metal cross doesn’t mean much if it isn’t silver.” It was fun to play this game when a fanatic like this confronted him. The weight of the case in his arms was light as his heart picked up at the idea of a fight with someone who had probably killed humans for suspicion before. “Ah, but what if I was a witch instead. What protections to have against that. Truly, what protection does a human truly have in the face of something monstrous. Seonghwa set the case down on the port and settled his bag onto top of it, careful that nothing would fall out. “Dearest human, following a monster who wanted nothing to do with you.” 

Seonghwa smiled as he suddenly appeared in front of the man, hand curling around the weapon’s handle at his side before he jerked the weapon from the smith’s tight grasp. He was about five steps away as he twirled the weapon between his fingers. He looked down at the weapon and it was beautiful. A lovely handle, dark wood smoothed down to a polish surface, a beautifully designed guard between the handle and blade that looked to be precisely designed like the silverware. He noticed a notch with a clasp, flipped it up and saw the one blade could become two. “Oh! This is beautiful work. You truly are a master of your craft. I’ve never quite seen something so spectacular, but as you may know, I never had any need for a weapon. Though, I quite like this one. Can I keep this?” The man had stumbled back, “Thats...a silver blade.” Seonghwa grinned, pressing the sharp end of the blade into his own neck, “Oh, that’s right. Silver doesn’t hurt. Crosses don’t hurt. I don’t need permission to come into your home. All superstitions created by humans who felt insecure to face the shadows in the night. Come now, you wanted to kill me. Won’t you try? I’ll even safely place your sword down and fight you with my bare hands.” Seonghwa placed the sword on the ground behind him and opened his arms with a wide grin. The man rushed him, Seonghwa let himself be body slammed on the port. The wood creaked under him, splinters definitely digging into his skin. The man grunted, tried to reach for the blades but Seonghwa caught his hand, holding back the man’s strength with ease, “Nuh-uh, we promise bare hands, didn’t we?” The man jumped away and Seonghwa stood, brushing his clothes off before he tackled the man, digging his elbow into the man’s neck. The man sputtered underneath him and struggled against his hold but Seonghwa held him down effortlessly. “I should kill you for trying to kill a harmless stranger. I really did just need medical supplies for my partners. I promised I would find some and I ever paid you. Should I kill you?” Seonghwa leaned down on his chest, the man’s chest was twice the size of Seonghwa’s waist. He probably looked tiny on top of the man, but he held him down as a single finger nail drew little circles in the man’s flesh. The man screamed until Seonghwa ripped the leather strap from the man's neck and shoved it in his mouth, “You’ll frighten the customers at the pub.” Seonghwa continued to draw little designs into his chest, losing track of where he actually was as he dazedly smiled down at this work. 

“Seonghwa?” Seonghwa looked up and saw Hongjoong standing there with his mates behind him, some women latched onto different members of the crew. Seonghwa blinked slowly, like a cat woken from a nap, “Oh, Captain. Are you already done at the pub?” Hongjoong smiled, his head falling back as he laughed, “Yes, Hwa, and you? Are you fed and found new clothes?” Seonghwa frowned. He had forgotten about the feeding but this one was stinky and when Seonghwa looked down he saw that the man was barely breathing. Ah, Seonghwa must have been drawing for a long time, “I forgot to feed. This one stinks. I’ll have to find another.” Seonghwa stood on wobbly legs, “Cap’n, that’s my stuff and the sword I just won from this corpse. Can someone take it up for me while I go get something to eat?” Hongjoong was approaching Seonghwa who still felt a bit fuzzy in his head from staring at the pretty red designs he had carved into the man’s chest, stomach and arms. Hongjoong reached up to Seonghwa’s face, reaching up to push stray strands of hair away before he gently patted the air into place. Seonghwa’s eyes fluttered shut for a moment at the gesture. “Sure thing, Seonghwa. Good luck huntin’.” Seonghwa nodded and headed down the port, daydreaming a bit as his legs pushed him in the direction of the heat brimming from the lit up pub. 


	10. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The crew of Aurora must make their way through The Teeth, a breeding ground for Siren's and shipwrecks. Hongjoong's time is up, the hole in his chest reopens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess the tag would be...blood? Fuck, I don't know. There is blood.

Hongjoong watched Seonghwa as he slept on his bed. When Seonghwa had returned to the ship, he was lethargic, giggly with blood dripping just the slightest from his lips. He had stumbled up the plank and had nearly stepped right off the edge. Wooyoung had caught him by the collar of his coat and Seonghwa had just giggled as he stared at the black. Hongjoong had been in his cabin when he had heard loud laughter and Wooyoung yelling at someone to grab him. Hongjoong had come out to see Seonghwa easily dodging San, Wooyoung and Mingi who were trying to get the vampire who was laughing brightly, teeth gleaming in the moonlight. 

Hongjoong had found the entire display entirely too funny and had laughed so hard he had to lean on the door frame to keep himself upright. At the sound of his laughter, the laughing vampire had stopped long enough for Mingi to sideline tackle the vampire. Seonghwa just melted against the taller and looked up Hongjoong with gleaming eyes. Hongjoong had come down and Seonghwa had reached for him like a child. Hongjoong felt spellbound as he had gotten closer. Seonghwa had clung to him so hard that no one could peel him away from the captain. Wooyoung had tried to bribe Seonghwa with the idea of his clean clothes and clean cell but Seonghwa had just nuzzled closer to Hongjoong, smearing the blood of mysterious origin against Hongjoong’s neck as he did so. They had no choice but to let Hongjoong take the boy to his cabin so the ship could finally sleep. 

Seonghwa looked peaceful sleeping. Hongjoong hadn’t known that vampires slept. His frame looked so slight in the new shirt that Hongjoong had forced on him after finding that blood stained the front of the vampire's black shirt. Eventually, after much fighting, he had managed to sleep next to the vampire but had woken before Seonghwa had. Now, he watched the steady rise and fall of the vampire's chest. He had a lot of questions. Seonghwa had been off right before he had left. When Hongjoong had seen him leaning over the man, who by now had found a new home deep in the sea, he had been drawing circles with a hazy expression like he wasn’t actually there. 

Wooyoung had said Seonghaw’s name a couple times but the vampire had only looked up when Hongjoong had said it. He remembers the dopey grin on his face, the way the vampire had nearly leaned into his touch before he had almost drunkenly went to the bar. Was it like a drunkenness that only vampires encounter. That time before they absolutely had to feed. Were they delirious. He had obviously fed so why was he so clingy and giggly when he had returned. He didn’t think that if he asked that Seonghwa would give him a response. Instead, he would just have to anticipate it in the future, for however long it took them to see that damn witch. It wasn’t definite that she was still in the eastern isles. There were rumors that she would occasionally leave but she would always return. Hongjoong was counting on the witch not having taken a trip. 

Seonghwa stirred beside him and Hongjoong watched as the vampire took in his surroundings before he jumped up from the bed with wide eyes. He covered his nose as he looked at Hongjoong, “What am I doing in your bed?” Hongjoong tried not to kick the man for so blatantly, holding his nose like Hongjoong smelled like shit, “You wouldn’t let m’go when ya got back. Had no other choice.” Seonghwa took steps backward until his back was against the door. “Did I bite you?” Hongjoong didn’t respond immediately. Why would it matter and why did Seonghwa sound terrified of it, “No? You didn’t. Why?” Seonghwa relaxed, “Ah, no reason. Drunk people are easiest to drink from because they remember the least. I get a bit drunk off of it. Next time, uh, don’t leave me alone with...with anyone. Just shoved me in the cell and let me sleep it off.” Hongjoong grimaced. That sounded a lot like not to leave him alone with Hongjoong, not anyone else. Was Hongjoong that repulsive? Hongjoong stood, drawing the blade at his waist before he held it to Seonghwa’s neck. The vampire didn’t move, didn’t blink, didn’t look disturbed at all. “Why t’fuck ya ‘ave somethin against me? Do I stink or somethin’? You let Wooyoung and San hang off ya but won’t touch me for nothing.” 

Seonghwa didn’t move, Hongjoong just pressed the blade harder, skin breaking and red sluggishly seeped from the wound, slower than human blood would, it was a bit darker. Hongjoong watched it slide across the pale expanse of Seonghwa’s chest, watch it pool in the dip of his collarbones. “Lotus flowers.” Hongjoong’s gaze flickered away from the blood, it was too pretty but the despair on Seonghwa’s face was prettier. “What?” “You smell like lotus flowers. It’s why I said that witch has a death wish for you. You smell so good I want to eat you alive. So instead, just do what you are doing now. Hate me and cut me open. But don’t ever let me bite you. You won’t live.” Hongjoong huffed out a laugh, the blade leaving its place only to press against Seonghwa’s chest. “What? Should I cut you all pretty like that man yesterday?” Seonghwa visibly shivered at that, “If that’s what you want? But you’ll have to stop again so I can feed again. Unless you want me walking around clinging to your crew members like a slut from a slum.” Hongjoong didn’t break eye contact, just dug the tip of the blade into Seonghwa’s chest, his back arched slightly as Hongjoong did so. 

There was a loud knock on the door and Hongjoong growled. He pulled Seonghwa away from the door and ripped it open. “What?” Yeosang stood there, unaffected, not blinking, “We’re about to pass through the Teeth. Same place you fucked up last time.” Yeosang looked at Seonghwa and looked back to Hongjoong, “Is there a particular reason why the vampire is bleeding or…?” Hongjoong just slammed the door again. Seonghwa was wiping at the blood, the wounds already closing up. Hongjoong tried not to think of how he didn’t like watching the cut disappear so quickly and instead grabbed his coat and left his cabin. He heard Seonghwa followed after him. “The Teeth, Captain?” “Aye, the only fucking strip o’ sea I hate.” It was what kept that witch protected from favors requested by all the pirates of the sea. Anyone who wished to get to the eastern isle would have to pass through its mouth. There was another way, but it took days, days that they didn’t have. It was also the place where the Siren’s love to stay to lure in the pirate’s who were brave enough to breach the stretch of sea. Outside of the rocks that were hard to avoid, there were shipwrecks. It was a mountainous stretch of sea that had probably been an island but was now just jagged rocks rising out of the sea. “Do vampires respond to t’siren’s voice?” Seonghwa paused at the question as he was descending the stairs. 

The vampire looked up at the captain with a smirk, “No, sirens very much despise my kind. We don’t have souls to prey on.” Hongjoong nodded, “Can ya keep my men on board? Don’t want ‘nother curse for beheading another one.” Seonghwa smiled and nodded before he continued his journey into the bell of the ship. Hongjoong looked ahead, “San! What’d you see?” “Ship off the port bow!” “Mingi!” “Got it, Cap’n!” 

Dodging the actual wreckage wasn’t that much of a task with a crew like his, but when the Siren’s call kicked in, his crew’s steps slowed. Most had managed to plug their ears, but a stray crew member had stupidly wandered towards the edge, it was Wooyoung who had swung down to tell Mingi something. There was no sweet song, Wooyoung was yanked into the water. San screamed out and almost jumped down but there was a flash of black and Seonghwa was diving into the water. Hongjoong gribbed the wheel more tightly, “San! Whatcha got?” “A rock at the bow 30 feet ahead and a pissed siren starboard.” 

Hongjoong glanced to the starboard and saw that indeed that was a very pissed siren who had been forced onto a rock where Seonghwa was fighting to tear Wooyoung from her grasp. Hongjoong watched as Seonghwa snarled at the siren before the black eyes seemed to realize what exactly it was that was snarling at him. The siren’s figure dematerialized into water before she slunk into the water again. Seonghwa was holding Wooyoung to his chest and he launched the two of them back onto the ship. Wooyoung was limp in his arms but Seonghwa was pressing into his chest before he ducked down, pressing his lips to Wooyoung’s to blow air into his lungs. Hongjoong looked away as bitterness spread in his chest, no place for that when his crew member had nearly drowned. “San!” “All clear Cap’n. Is that as hot as I’m seein’ or is t’angle bad from up ‘ere?” Hongjoong glared up at the nest, “San, it’s t’angle you fucking bastard. Lookout ‘fore I ask t’siren’s to take ya useless ass!” “Ahhh! Captain, port to bow, port to bow!” Hongjoong cursed, spinning the wheel as Mingi rushed. They needed Wooyoung up there. “San! The sail!” Wooyoung coughed and Hongjoong heard him cough around some words. Seonghwa nodded before he shot up, grasping a rope far too high for any of the crew members to have reached before he swung his full weight, turning the sail with the momentum of the swing. Seonghwa was grasping onto the edge of the wood holding up the mainsail. “Captain! Which way am I taking this?” “Fucking t’wards me.” Seonghwa did what he asked and the ship changed direction. He could hear San screeching from above as they narrowly missed what looked like a speared rock that would have torn a hole in his ship.

Hongjoong gazed out at the breech of the teeth, didn’t let go of the wheel until they were safely through the mouth and back into still waters. He wasn’t completely relaxed because it wasn’t far from here that the kraken had tried to swallow their ship. Hongjoong drew the dagger from his waist and threw it with rage up at the crow’s nest. San narrowly dodged the blade. He glared back at the captain. “Yah! I didn’ wreck us Cap’n.” Hongjoong growled, “Stupid bird! Keep ya beady eyes where tey belong.” Seonghwa chose that moment to drop down back onto the deck. He kneeled by Wooyoung who was still coughing up water. Wooyoung waved to Hongjoong, “Sorry, Cap’n. I stole the first kiss.” Hongjoong let go of the wheel, Yeosang catching it as it tried to spin, and hopped over the rail, landing in front of Wooyoung. He gripped his collar as Wooyoung grinned up at him, “No fucking respect. Shoulda never picked ya up--” “Captain.” Hongjoong looked up at Seonghwa and watched as the man gentle extended his hand, pressing into the smallest trail of blood leaking from Hongjoong’s chest. “You’ve run out of time.” The captain looked down at his chest and cursed, dragging Seonghwa up the stairs towards his cabin, “Don’t ya come barkin’ until we’ve reached t’isle.” 

Seonghwa let himself be dragged, didn’t ask questions or protest. He nearly stumbled when Hongjoong jerked him into the cabin and slammed the door only to press Seonghwa against it again. “Do I just need t’drink ya blood for this hole t’close.” Seonghwa looked at him with wide eyes, “Ah, yes, but not in here alone?” Hongjoong laughed, “Ya really gotta a problem w’me.” 


	11. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hongjoong is fed up with Seonghwa acting like a fucking prude every time he steps near him. He's going to fix that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is absolute shameless 2,000 some odd words of self indulgent smut that got out of hand? Like swear to god I was going to have something else, like fucking plot for one, in this chapter but then I was...taken away by the demon that is living in my fingers. Sorry but totally worth it. 1,000 percent. 
> 
> Warning I guess? Uh, Hongjoong is mean but Seonghwa likes it okay? Like, there is obvious consent throughout so don't worry. 
> 
> All I gotta say is there are not enough synonyms for dick out there that aren't cringe worthy. Requesting improvement for words to represent the phallus.

Seonghwa really did not understand the utter fascination and insanity in Hongjoong’s eyes as he looked up at him. He had him pressed into the door, hands on his hips in a bruising grip that did not, absolutely did not, send pleasant thrums up his back. It couldn’t have been that one drink that he had given Hongjoong that had caused such a volatile reaction to denying him. Addictions to vampire blood took time because the first few drinks did not have any real effect on the one who had drank it. And Hongjoong had been bleeding out so most of that should have gone to stitching the hole in his chest. 

He had never let anyone drink his blood but he had heard from the few that he had met that it happened with humans with weak wills. But Hongjoong wasn’t weak willed. Hell, he looked really pissed off. Hongjoong dug his fingers into Seonghwa’s sides and a whine bubbled past his lips that had Hongjoong looking at him with dark eyes. “You strut ‘round my deck like ya don’t notice er’one lookin’ at ya like they want t’fuck ya.” Seonghwa’s head was spinning from the sensation, the rough grate of Hongjoong’s normally pitched tone, and the heady scent of lotus flowers. “H-hongjoong. I don’t. I don’t. Wooyoung and San are the only ones who--” “Who make it obvious? Don’t fuckin’ lie.” Seonghwa shook his head, “I don’t. Get off. I can’t think.” Hongjoong laughed darkly, the sound almost gurgling in the back of his throat, “Such a sorry ‘xcuse o’vampire. Askin’ a human t’back off.” Seonghwa gritted his teeth, hands flying to the hands at his waist that had started to press into his back to pull him in closer, “N-no. I just don’t want to hurt you. Okay?” Hongjoong dipped his head, humming into Seonghwa’s throat, “Right. Ya so willing when I’m captain on deck. Tell ya to rip a man’s guts out and ya go off an do it. Do I just need t’order you ‘round. Pliant. How t’witch thought ya’d take me is beyond me.” Seonghwa felt Hongjoong sink his teeth in his neck, his legs gave out and his hands came to grab onto Hongjoong’s shoulders for support. “Not wha...what she meant? Fuck.” Hongjoong was sucking marks, bound to fade in a moment’s time into his skin. “Hm? What was that?”

Hongjoong pressed him painfully into the door, the handle digging into his back. Hongjoong licked his neck again, teeth scraping at Seonghwa’s pulse point. Seonghwa planted his palms into Hongjoong’s chest and shoved him hard enough to send Hongjoong slamming into the table behind him. Seonghwa sunk to the ground, chest heaving as he tried to clear his head of the fog. Seonghwa looked up at Hongjoong who glared down at him, “She...take you...not bed you...necessarily. Take your soul by turning you. But I would kill you if I tried. I wouldn’t be able to stop.” Hongjoong’s gaze hardened, “I wouldn’t ‘ave a soul. The sea’d leave me be cause the curse would die with m’soul, right?” Seonghwa nodded, tried to stand but just let himself melt into the door. Seonghwa sighed and held out his wrist. “Just drink enough to close the hole. There are other ways to tie off a soul without killing you.” Hongjoong stepped close and crouched between Seonghwa’s legs. 

Hongjoong reached past the wrist and grasped Seonghwa’s chin, forcing the vampire to look up at him. “A pretty little thing like ya gonna kill me? Hard t’imagine.” Seonghwa leaned into the touch despite the war going on in his head. The captain’s hand was warm. It was much warmer than the grasp that Wooyoung and San forced on his arm or waist. Seonghwa wondered if a man who possessed such warmth could be turned. Would Seonghwa even be able to spare enough blood to change such a man? He doubted it. The grip that Hongjoong had on his chin was gentle but firm. In comparison to the former treatment, this was gentle, soft, maybe loving. But the look in the pirate’s eyes spoke of something sinister. Seonghwa didn’t care really. He felt the peace that he had lost somewhere stitching together again. Maybe it wasn't the same peace he had lost but a warm feeling had settled in his gut that made his body pliant to the King who was caging him against the door once more. “I’ll take enough ya blood to close the hole, but I ain’t drinkin’ from your arm ‘gain.” Seonghwa blinked up at him, “Where from?” “Here.” 

Hongjoong’s fingers slid from his chin, pushing on his lips until it dug into his tongue. Seonghwa instinctively closed his mouth around the finger that pressed with lovely pressure on his tongue before he realized what he had done and jerked back. “My tongue? Are you crazy?” “Said I wan’ it from there. You got a complaint?” Seonghwa shook his head, let his mouth fall open before his eyes turned silver, his fangs grew. He didn’t really process the pain, just the quick bite of his fang spearing his tongue before the fangs slipped back into place as harmless enough canines. Hongjoong dipped in and pressed his lips to Seonghwa. Seonghwa could feel the blood pooling in his mouth and just let his jaw go slack as Hongjoong tightened his grip around his jaw, licking into his mouth, sucking on his tongue. The hand around his jaw slid to his neck with a bruising grip, stealing the air from Seonghwa if he even needed to breathe. Even after the wound had closed and all the blood from his mouth had been licked up, leaving trails down his chin as drool and blood spilled out of his mouth, Hongjoong continued to mold their lips together. Hongjoong bit at his lips, almost hard enough to draw blood before he pulled away to lick at the trail of blood that had slipped down, following the trail until he was sucking the skin of Seonghwa’s neck. Seonghwa tightened his grip on his own thighs and would have blushed if he could because he was painfully hard from just the kiss.

When Hongjoong pulled away, he had a sadistic smirk on his face as he looked down at the bulge in Seonghwa’s pants. Seonghwa looked at him, mind absolutely fogged. Seonghwa’s body shot forward when Hongjoong lowered his knee to press into the thing that was progressively taking up more of Seonghwa’s mind. Hongjoong giggled maliciously in Seonghwa’s ear. “Are all vamps sensitive like ya are?” Seonghwa shook his head, hands desperately grasping Hongjoong’s thigh, “Not sensitive.” “No?” “No--ah.” Hongjoong pressed more pressure, almost rolling his knee on Seonghwa. “Hongjoong, please.” Seonghwa’s head was resting against the captain’s chest. “Please what?” Seonghwa wanted to cry. “I don’t know. Let me go.” Hongjoong pulled away, only to take Seonghwa with him as he did so until Seonghwa was sitting in his lap. It should have made Seonghwa feel stronger, sitting on top of the Pirate King but he felt smaller somehow. “Do ya want that? Me to let ya go. Crew might jump ya lookin’ like that?” Seonghwa shivered. San would maul him if he knew. Wooyoung would be right behind him. He didn’t know about the rest of the crew but he didn’t want that. This was better. Hongjoong was better. Hongjoong was always better. Seonghwa shook his head, grip on the arms that held him flush against the captain tightening. 

Hongjoong smiled, “Then what d’ya want, huh?” Seonghwa didn’t have the strength to stay sitting up, just melting against Hongjoong’s front, “Whatever you want.” He could feel Hongjoong grin against his neck, “That’s’a dangerous request, pretty.” Seonghwa whimpered at the name, “Whatever ya want, Captain.” Seonghwa was pushed on his back, none too lightly, his head smacking into the floor of the cabin. One of the captain’s hands had slid from his waist to his thigh, pushing the leg up, his knee almost meeting the floor beside his head. The captain rolled his hips down as he settled a hand above Seonghwa, “What if I fucked ya here? Hm? Yeosang’s on the bridge, would hear ya beg for it.” Seonghwa nodded his head because the friction was delicious, made him ache with want. Hongjoong was so warm, his touch was burning and he wanted it to set him on fire. 

Hongjoong’s hand moved to the belt at Seonghwa’s waist, nearly ripping it free, before he was pushing Seonghwa’s pants down his thighs until he yanked the piece of cloth like it was offensive and threw it to the side. Hongjoong pushed his shirt up, sinking down to bite into his chest, his stomach, at his hips, “So pale er’where.” Seonghwa’s back arched when Hongjoong sunk his teeth into his thigh and Hongjoong smirked into the skin. “Wish t’stayed. Th’marks. All my hard work fer nothin’.” Seonghwa forced his body not to heal them over, slowed his blood down, willing the marks to stay. Hongjoong laughed as the redness lingered, already purpling, “Such a g’boy. Ya really do ny’thing I want.” Seonghwa whined as the captain bit down closer to where he was leaking on his stomach. The captain went lower and Seonghwa jumped when he felt something hot and wet dip between his cheeks. Seonghwa was writhing, wood biting into his shoulders as he lifted his hips to get away from the feeling but also wanting to roll into it. Hongjoong licked and nipped at his rim until Seonghwa was near sobbing. Only when Seonghwa had cried out especially loud did he feel the cold press of a ringed finger against his entrance. Hongjoong continued to fuck him open with his fingers as he hovered above Seonghwa, eyes watching his face like a cat playing with a rat he was about to smash with its jaws. “Look at ya, Hwa.” Seonghwa sobbed, reaching for Hongjoong. Hongjoong let him pull him closer, Seonghwa grew drunk on the scent of lotus flowers and the delicious drag of Hongjoong’s fingers, rings biting into his rim, pressing on his insides in a way that had Seonghwa’s toes curling. But it wasn’t enough. “Captain, m’ready. Please. Want it.” Hongjoong smiled, all teeth and wild eyes, “Ny’thing for t’good boy.” 

Seonghwa watched through bleary eyes as the captain pulled his fingers out, using the same hand to unbuckle his pants and shoved them down only far enough to pull his member from the fabric. Seonghwa had never wanted like this. He could feel his eyes going silver at the sheer want, his canines burned uncomfortably as they tried to break free of his control. Hongjoong laughed, “Seeing me w’my dick out gotcha that hungry? Maybe I shoulda just fed ya this instead.” Seonghwa shook his head desperately. He felt empty. He wanted Hongjoong inside, “S’want ya inside, please, Captain.” Hongjoong aligned at his entrance, pressed in slowly. It burned, nothing to slick up the slide but Seonghwa wouldn’t break from something like that. Hongjoong seemed to think along those lines because he kicked his hips forward burying deep inside in one thrust, Seonghwa choked out a moan as Hongjoong laughed out, “Can ya fuck a vampire so hard ‘e can’t walk?” The logical answer was no, but god, Seonghwa wanted that. He wanted to hurt so bad that he could feel Hongjoong in him later. Hongjoong pulled out before he roughly snapped his hips forward again. The man growled above him, “S’tight. Ya never d’this. Thought the crew woulda had a hand at ya.” Seonghwa scoffed, “Like I’d let ‘em.” Hongjoong’s hand came to press on his throat as he started to work up a rhythm that thrust Seonghwa up an inch each time, the wood slicing his skin but he didn’t care. “But ya let me. Only let me fuck ya like this.” Seonghwa nodded his head, hands reaching blindly until Hongjoong caught one of them, an almost soft expression as he placed the wandering hand around his neck. Seonghwa felt that warmth from weeks ago in his chest, tried not to let it bleed out of that one painful part of his chest but it was already bleeding under his skin, warming his flesh until Seonghwa was blubbering as Hongjoong continued to fuck him stupid. 

Seonghwa was close. He was probably going to come before Hongjoong, knew he would, wanted to so Hongjoong could fuck him into oversensitivity. Hongjoong pulled his waist up as he leaned back, changing the angle of his thrust. He slammed into Seonghwa, hitting something that sent Seonghwa’s head flying back, his dick kicking painfully as he released on his stomach. Hongjoong didn’t stop, just continued to fuck into him at a brutal pace until he was pulling Seonghwa up into his lap. Seonghwa sunk back down on him and mewled when Hongjoong was buried deeper inside him. “Fuck ya self since ya went ‘head and came without me.” Seonghwa nodded, rolled his hips down desperately, rising and falling as Hongjoong thrust up to meet him until Hongjoong was pressing him flush against him, forcing Seonghwa’s face down so he could kiss as warmth filled Seonghwa up. Hongjoong thrust up a few more times, Seonghwa whining each time into the kiss that was all teeth and tongue, like Hongjoong was the one trying to suck out every last drop of his life. 

Seonghwa relaxed into Hongjoong after his head was released. Hongjoong gently lifted him. “Shit, ya back’s fucked all t’hell. Why are ya not healin’?” Hongjoong lifted Seognhwa up from the ground and set him on the edge of the bed that Seonghwa had woken up in that same morning. Seonghwa lifted his head to look at the Captain. “So you could see them. The marks.” Hongjoong settled on the ground in front of him, gripping the mark’s on his thighs with enough strength to add to the bruises there. “Heal up, Hwa. Can’t ‘ave ya tryin’ snack on m’crew.” Seonghwa willed his body to heal, felt the skin of his back prickle as his body forced some splinters out of his body as it healed. Hongjoong walked over to a basin and grabbed a piece of cloth that he ripped to make smaller. He dipped it in the basin before he came back to Seonghwa. 

Seonghwa tried to keep his eyes open as he felt Hongjoong wiping at his face, down his neck and then along his back. Seonghwa blinked his eyes open, “Wouldn’t snack on your crew. Would just get clingy if I need to feed.” Hongjoong laughed, the former bite no longer there, “So right now?” Seonghwa rolled his eyes, not really in the right mind to truly argue, “Special case.” Seonghwa let Hongjoong lay him down on the bed, scooting up as Hongjoong did until the two were laying side by side. Hongjoong had pulled his pants back up but Seonghwa was laying completely naked. Seonghwa eyed the clothes on the floor and Hongjoong snorted, “Shy?” “Gimme my clothes.” “Get ‘em yourself.” Seonghwa huffed but leaned up to grab them only to be pulled down by Hongjoong. “Nah, you get t’stay right 'ere naked. Who’er brave ‘nough to knock on t’door gets a treat.” Seonghwa imagined either smiling Yunho or grinning Mingi trying to open the door and he was bolting from the bed, tugging his pants on before Hongjoong could even blink. 

It was at the right time because as he pulled his shirt on, a very wrinkled and slightly torn shirt, Yunho opened the door without knocking. He blinked his eyes as he looked between Seonghwa who was standing in a ruined shirt and the captain who was laying on the bed with a miffed expression, “Ah, Cap’n, we’re almost to the isle.” The captain stood from the bed, slapping Seonghwa on the ass as he passed, making Seonghwa kick at him and Yunho drop his jaw. “Right, Yunho, get t’crew ready. Hwa, change your shirt. Ya look fresh fucked.” “Kim Hongjoong!” The infamous Pirate King winked at him as he closed the door of the cabin. 


	12. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seonghwa meets the witch but the witch is not happy to see him. No, she is surprised and seems to be wasting away right before his eyes. Hongjoong finally has a name behind the one who wanted Seonghwa to kill him. The island is equally distraught with the healthy state of Hongjoong and Seonghwa is desperate to protect him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, finally, a step in the right direction. Sorry for so many chapters to lead to the main point. I wanted to develop out protagonists before we dive into the meat. 
> 
> Oh and if you are wondering, I definitely listened Treasure Ep. 2 the entire time I wrote the last two chapters. Feel free to repeat.

The isle was dark and looked possessed by something that wasn’t of this world. That was the impression that Seonghwa got as he gazed out across the sea. The sea seemed to roll away from it in fear, the sky curling in on itself to get away from it’s high peaks. “Has it always looked so haunting?” Hongjoong glanced sideways at the vampire. “Aye, but it’s gotten worse since she landed. ‘Spose I should’a dumped 'er on a different isle. Lads, prepare to lay anchor.” Seonghwa watched as the men prepared to anchor where they were but they were still so far from the island. “We ‘ave t’stay out far so t’women don’t climb aboard.” Hongjoong disappeared in his cabin and came back out with a fur coat, a huge black and white specked thing, before he handed it to Seonghwa. “S’cold up there.” Seonghwa took the coat warily, “Cold doesn’t affect me.” “This cold might. Yunho, Yeosang, we’re headed out. San, watch t’ship this time.” There was some vague call of affirmation and Hongjoong jumped into the boat hanging from the side of the ship. Seonghwa followed as both Yunho and Yeosang did this same. “T’witch is a right bitch. Don’t let’r rile ya up.” This came from Hongjoong as he lowered them into the water. Yunho scoffed, “Like tha ever stopped ya, Cap’n.” Hongjoong glared as they hit the water, “Row, Yunho. And shut ya trap.” 

They slowly approached the isle, Seonghwa could see women already lining the rickety looking port. Their voices were excited until they saw who it was. “Ah, s’just Hongjoong. What a fucking waste.” “No! They got somethin’ new and pretty with ‘em this time. Did’ja bring us a gift, Joongie?” Hongjoong tied off the boat and drew his sword, “Go fuck w’somethin’ else ladies.” The woman bickered as they created a birth to let the pirates and the one vampire walk up to the street. Seonghwa screwed up his nose in disgust. Sex. Blood. Lots of blood. Magic. It was a foul smell. Sweat. Piss. Seonghwa subconsciously leaned into Hongjoong’s space as the smells assaulted his senses. Hongjoong shot him a look and Seonghwa backed away, “Sorry, smells…” Hongjoong kept walking, it was getting colder the higher they got. The houses became more sparse, if they could even be called houses. They were wooden disasters hanging from the cliff’s edge. “What’s ya smell?” “Sex. Blood. Piss. Sweat. Magic.” “Magic?” This came from Yeosang. His face was plain but he somehow managed to look interested. Seonghwa nodded, “Smells like a pile of corpses, the earth, rotting. Disgusting. All magic smells like that.” Hongjoong grunted, “Just shove ya face in m’neck if ya gonna whine ‘bout it.” Seonghwa didn’t care if the statement was meant to be taken literally because he ducked down to bury his face in the base of Hongjoong’s neck, almost nuzzling into his hair. Hongjoong swatted at him, “I wasn’t--” “Serious. I know. Just taking you up on the offer anyway. S’better but not great.” Seonghwa saw Yunho looking at them in confusion but Yeosang just sighed, taking larger steps to get ahead of the group. Hongjoong laughed dryly, “Yeosang definitely heard us.” Yunho jogged a few steps to catch up with Hongjoong, “Heard what?” Seonghwa said ‘nothing’ at the same time Hongjoong said ‘us fucking.’ 

They soon stood in front of a house that looked as stable as the other had but this one had things that Seonghwa had vague memories of hanging out on the front. Hongjoong didn’t bother with a greeting, just walked right in. Seonghwa followed the three who had entered with no greeting. There, behind a table, was a woman who looked...haggard. She was thin, cheeks sunken in, hair flat and she was draped in layers of thin cloth that could not have provided any real warmth. Hongjoong sat at the table, “Amelia, brought that Princey with us. Wanna tell me why ya tryna kill me off?” The woman looked in shock at Seonghwa who was standing behind the three who were sitting. “Y-you. You weren’t supposed to come here.” Seonghwa looked at Hongjoong who grinned, “Oh? Was he ‘sposed t’be driven mad by m’pretty scent and eat me up?” The woman lashed out at Hongjoong but Seonghwa was quick to pull the man into his chest and protectively raise his arm as a snarl ripped out of his throat. The woman fell back in her chair and trembled. “Not supposed to happen this way. The shadows lied. The shadows t-tricked me.” Hongjoong didn’t move out of Seonghwa’s protective cage but just leveled his stare at the woman. “Shadows?” The woman was frantically eyeing the table like she was looking for something. Anything. Something seemed to settle in her because she calmed. She glared up at Hongjoong. “Pirate King. You aren’t the only thing to be feared in this world. The Shadows want you dead. You can’t escape them when they want your soul.” A rumble broke her stare and she stared at the source of the sound, “And the Prince, wandering the earth. Not born but made from the Shadows.” Seonghwa loosened his grip only slightly, “What do you mean?” The woman laughed, “You don’t know? That medicine man searched and searched for a cure only to find the books that the Shadows left behind. There was a first vampire like there was a first of everything. You were an unforeseen revisit to a first. A perfect specimen created by a desperate medicine man when the Shadows could not so flawlessly execute the same. And now, the Pirate King born with a curse to lure you in until were driven mad by it.” The woman laughed cruelly as she looked unseeing, “Dumb bastards didn’t count on the Pirate King making you his personal guard dog.” Hongjoong kicked the table, “Not m’dog. Who t’fuck are these Shadows.” The woman leaned back again, sinking against the tattered wall. She looked smaller than she had when they had walked in. “Who? What? You’ll never find them. They are no longer in this world, eaten up by the magic they created until they are part of it. They dwell between in the Otherworld.” 

Yeosang stood suddenly and headed for the door. Hongjoong watched him warily, followed him out, Seonghwa close behind still eyeing the woman with murder in his eyes and Yunho followed after them confusedly. When they stepped outside, Yeosang was staring at the sky. “The island. It’s sinking.” Hongjoong looked at the sky and then at Yeosang again, “Wha…” “She’s wasting away and the island keeps sinking. The next time we come here it won’t be here. It will be in the Otherworld.” Seonghwa looked at the sky. The clouds bent around the island with almost a painful shape. Seonghwa remembered the sea rolling away from the island almost fearfully. “He’s right. The sea rolled away from it but we were able to get to the island. It wants us here. Captain, we need to get off the island.” Yeosang looked out at the sea and then gave a curt nod, already running down the path. Hongjoong grabbed Seonghwa’s wrist and took off to follow. Yunho yelling but following them. The ground shook, the houses that were perched on the edge began creaking as their hold on the cliffs gave away. They could hear women screaming and some fled into the street, completely naked, some gripping remnants of their clothes as they rushed away from their crumbling houses. 

The ground beneath them seemed to sink beneath them even as they ran. They were nearly to the port, it was coming into view quickly. Hongjoong released his hand to pick up the pace. He and Yeosang flung themselves into the boat. Seonghwa heard Yunho grunt and looked back to see him struggling to tear his feet from the earth that had turned to mush. Seonghwa immediately doubled back, pulling Yunho but his foot wouldn’t budge. Seonghwa sunk to his knees, felt the earth make desperate grabs at his legs. He shoved his hand into the earth and yanked Yunho feet up until Yunho was perched on his shoulder. Seonghwa was sinking into the dirt and he was sinking fast. Seonghwa looked at the boat where Hongjoong was fighting against Yeosang to get out of the boat. Seonghwa looked up at Yunho, gripped him by the collar and hissed out, “You row like hell to get out of here. If you don’t get the captain out of here, I’ll rip your throat out.” Then he tightened his grip and threw Yunho with all of his strength. The boy landed on the port and looked at Seonghwa with wide eyes. One glare from Seonghwa had him scrambling, jumping in the boat and he started rowing. Seonghwa watched as the captain continued to fight and that warmth settled once again in his chest. Peace. Seonghwa felt the earth swallow his shoulders and he felt a warm smile grace his lips, warm streaks burning his cheeks as he cried in relief. It was a peace that only Hongjoong could give him. He let it warm him until the world turned black. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAHA you thought! And after writing all day on my precious off day, I leave you with this cliff hanger. Let's see where this trap takes our dearest, soft-hearted vampire. But seriously, writing that last paragraph kinda had me fucked up for some reason. Like I almost choked up for some reason? Too damn invested in my fucking characters.


	13. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seonghwa finds himself in the Otherworld but it is unlike what he had imagined. He sees an old acquaintance and learns of what happens to the monsters he kills. 
> 
> Hongjoong continues to fight with the creatures of the deep but he has become familiar with a new enemy and a new kind of rage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! Gonna post this chapter real quick! I expect to be able to edit the rest and post another one tonight. I hope you enjoy it. Sorry it's a little short but I hope it pleases the court.

Seonghwa’s body was aching. It was cold. So cold. Seonghwa curled closer in on the warmth of the fur around him. This warmth, a warmth that smelled like lotus flowers. Seonghwa cuddled in closer to his safe haven until he heard rustling in the distance. His eyes snapped open and he stood defensively. He blinked pensively as he took in his surroundings. That mountain face was familiar but not. He looked at his feet and turned to look out at what his memory would serve to him as where the sea should be. There was no sea that greeted him. There was only a bare chasm where the faintest memories of what once had been there remained. This was the cliff of his homeland but it was wrong. There was no color but not in the sense of the absence of that color but that the color had been brutally taken from it. It looked painful and Seonghwa felt raw looking at the trees that were drained of life but force to stand like a mocking copy of the world it wished to live in. 

Seonghwa followed the familiar path between the trees that he had walked a hundred times in his life. The town he had seen weeks ago was standing there, the same empty streets but now they were lifeless. He stopped in front of the shaman’s place. There were no banners. The front was bare but there was some warmth coming from it so he entered. Like before, the rooms were all closed but the one. He entered and stopped. Sitting behind the table, or rather crouched uncomfortably behind the table, bent over pages was a cloaked figure. The figure was shivering but continued to flip the pages, still unaware of Seonghwa’s presence, or if he was, he did not bother to look up. Seonghwa sat at the tables edge and reached forward. Upon seeing his hand, the figure lurched back and looked up with terror in their eyes. Seonghwa’s breath caught at the sight. It was the medicine man, he looked the same as he had when he had first woken Seonghwa. The man looked at him, looked across his frame in horror and then met his gaze again. 

The man was wheezing and suddenly he was across the table gripping Seonghwa’s shoulders harshly, “Seonghwa! Why are you here? You...you can’t die.” Seonghwa peeled his hands away slowly, “What do you mean? I’m not dead. I got sucked in here from some godforsaken island.” The medicine man let out a breath, “You...need to go back to the real world. The creatures here...Seonghwa, they call you the Dark Prince here. Each time one of your kind dies, they come here. There are hundreds of vampires here who call you the Dark Prince. They hate you. They want to kill you.” Seonghwa almost laughed. He had been sucked into the Otherworld where all the vampires that he had killed now lived. He supposed that just gave him more incentive to not die in the future. He hadn’t come across a way that he could die yet. He was apparently a very aggressive form of vampirism. His heart had been taken out of his chest and dissected at some point in his 200 years alive so he assumed that ripping out his heart would do nothing but piss him off. He had taken back with merciless action and placed it back in his chest if not for the actual purpose of pumping blood through his body then to fill the void its absence had left. 

Either way, the thought of hundreds of vampires with ill will towards him, somewhat justifiable, did sit well with him either way. Seonghwa sighed as he relaxed on the cushion, “So, is there a doorway to the real world. Is there a way for me to return?” The man leaned over the papers he had been looking at once again, “I don’t know. This is the only bit of land I have ever been on. They...the Shadows practiced their magic here. When they were cast out from the real world, I assume that this is the home they found because it had been their home in their life. All the creatures that the shadows created reside here because this was their birthplace. I came here instead of the afterlife because I had practiced their magic on you.” Seonghwa felt some semblance of pity then because the man had just wanted to save a boy who had fought so hard to stay alive and now he was cursed to this place. 

Seonghwa looked at the papers. They were written in some odd language that looked aggressive and uncomfortable on the brittle pages. “What are you reading?” The man smiled tiredly, the smile not reaching his eyes, “I’ve been here a long time. I am also looking for a gateway to anywhere but here.” Seonghwa looked over the papers but couldn’t read any of it. He huffed in frustration. “What about where they were sucked into this world? The witch said the magic consumed them and dragged them here. I assume that if the gate sucked them here, it can spit you back out.” The man scrambled for some papers at that. He flipped through them until he found a paper that was all but burned to bits. “I don’t talk to them. They don't talk to me. They walk around in their robes but they disappear to the mountains every so often.” The man slammed the paper down in front of Seonghwa. Seonghwa looked at the paper and then at the man, “Uh, I can’t read that.” The man flushed, “Oh, right, this was the spell they were trying to perform when they were taken here. It was to call on the gods of the otherworld. I’m assuming that they go to the mountain to meet their gods. I’ve never met them but if they exist. It will be there.” 

Seonghwa nodded, standing to head to the storefront. The medicine followed behind, slower than his youthful appearance would have implied. Seonghwa stood on the front steps, gazing out at the mountains in the distance. He had walked them endlessly as a child with his younger brother. His brother had died of the plague just days before Seonghwa had been given life. He had since not walked the mountains because it felt heavy, the idea of walking those same steps without his brother by his side. “Where do my disgruntled followers stay?” The man stumbled in his steps, leaning against the threshold of the shaman’s house. Seonghwa looked at the man. His skin was the same leathery tone that it had been when he was alive but it was obvious that this eternity was weighing on him. His skin looked fragile even in its roughness and the hand that gripped the side of the door looked like it could break off, turn to ash if he tightened his grip by a fraction. “They stray away from this pocket of houses. This land reflects the one on the other side. When the houses decay, new ones are built like this town here. The undead seemed particularly distressed by the evidence of the passing of time in this world so they stay in the mountains where the trees are lifeless and the ground unchanging.” 

Seonghwa pulled the fur coat closer to his frame as he stared out at the mountains. He dreaded having to trek up the side. He would rather they change. He suddenly appreciated that the world had kept changing. With every city built, the memories he willed to be buried would sink deeper until they were just that. Memories. Unable to wretch open his heart in pain and instead just settled ambiguously in his mind. “I’ll go to the mountains. If I find this so-called god, I have the slightest inclination that I’ll be tempted to kill it.” The medicine laughed, “Ah, you’ve not changed. Soft hearted but ruthless when you feel wronged.” Seonghwa looked at the man again to find him smiling fondly at Seonghwa. Seonghwa scoffed, “You have listened to too many rumors told by unreliable greedy vampires.” The medicine reached out the feeble hand, it shook slightly as it settled on his shoulder, “No, these were the words that I heard in life, before they called you the Dark Prince. Your mother spoke fondly of you. Only the slightest bit of concern that her starry eyed son seemed to look at the baker’s son too fondly.” Seonghwa stepped away from the man, “Many lifetimes ago. The baker’s son’s face doesn’t even live in my memory. I remember something of a fondness for him but it pales in comparison to now.” The medicine man’s face crumpled and Seonghwa took his steps towards the peaks, his resolve solidified, “I’ve got a bratty King in the real world who is probably throwing a fit at the moment. I need to return before his rage and pride kill his crew.” Seonghwa continued toward the mountains, unaware of the awe on the face of the medicine man as his frame disappeared into the darkness. 

\---

  
  


Hongjoong drove his sword through the chest of the creature that had tried to dig its curved teeth into his neck. His chest ached, dripping blood down as the life of another creature of the sea fell away at his hands. There was a storm that raged, throwing his ship about on the waves like it wasn’t the Aurora, like it wasn’t a precious love of the Pirate King but instead a piece of aged wood thrown carelessly into the depths. His heart felt heavy in his chest as he fought against the creatures of the deep, images of a figure clad in black flashing in his mind each time he had to blink away the blood that had built up across his clothes and stained his white hair as he slashed with animalistic rage at the creatures who crawled on his ship. Lightning flashed above and the thunder shook the crew of the ship with its cries. “Cap’n, there’s land ahead! We need t’disembark!” The captain snarled at the voice, “T’fuck am I gonna run from? These bastards will die by m’hand for boarding m’ship!” 

Hongjoong, the infamous Pirate King, had a hole in his chest he didn’t want to acknowledge. He didn’t want to feel the edges growing larger and he didn’t want to remember the one who would have stitched it together. The creatures cowered as he stepped down from the bridge, grip on the handles of the duel swords that the figure clad in black had giggled that he had won. His feet slipped in the filth of spilled organs, botched limbs as he gazed at the creatures who folded in on themselves at the insanity reflected in the eyes of the man they had been called to kill. Some creatures jumped back into the chaos of the sea while others stared at the monster before them, frozen in fear. They were hideous creatures. They were men who resembled the siren’s but did not have the advantage of a beautiful voice to calm the rage that stood before them. He could hear Mingi’s voice calling to the crew about heading to land as if it was through a tunnel, the gruff voice bouncing uselessly in a swampy hole filled with dark muck, suffocated emotions, black silence. 

Hongjoong finished executing the creatures before they could return to the sea and then as the storm calmed, the sky lightening just enough to paint the dark fluids that covered his body in red, he sunk to his knees. There was no smile on his face, the lines etched into his cheeks were flat, the stars in his eyes clouded, unseen, thought dead. No one approached the captain in his state. They had learned not to. They left him there to stare at the water mixing with the blood before it seeped into the wood, liable to stain the grains of his Aurora forever. His grips on the blades loosened, they clattered to his sides as he felt the hole in his chest deepen. The hole that was bleeding had calmed, blood no longer falling freely from the tinder rupture but the hole beneath that where another had once stood overwhelmed him. The crew watched on as their captain fought against the roaring tides in his head. The Shadows would come to know that the desire to end his life would soon become nothing but a fear that he had lived. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like when I am editing later, I will do a better job of depicting the growth of the relationship between Seonghwa and Hongjoong. Just a few changes in sentence structure and occasional phrasing would improve it a great deal so don't worry about my editing affecting content too much. 
> 
> I feel like in a lot of the stories that I've read, Seonghwa is always shown as the person who is affected on a tramatic psychological scale by the absence of the other half. I wanted to take a chance to show that both are affected equally. While Hongjoong maintains semblance of his sanity, his rage is pretty boundless. He's not succumbing to it but rather is using it to push himself forward. Seonghwa finds the same kind of resolve. I hope I was able to accurately depict their individual battles with this hole that has been carved into each of them. 
> 
> As always, thank you for your continued support. I would continue writing this if even one person liked it. It is a great comfort to know that I'm not alone in my love for vampire pirate Seongjoong. Hehe.


	14. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seonghwa searches for the robed figures or their so called god. He was going to return to the real world even if that meant killing a god. 
> 
> Hongjoong is searching for a means to stop the aching in his chest and he heads to the North only to find that the mouths of the people are not so quick to speak about the cursed lands he seeks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well shit. That was long than I had anticipated. This is a whole ass two chapters but...its here. I was so fucking busy today but I promised a chapter and damn it, I delivered.

The forest on the side of the mountain was untouched. It was eerily untouched like sacred ground that the villagers were afraid to trespass. Seonghwa did not remember even the people of his own village wandering freely into the darkness of it. The only ones who dared were the children who were not old enough to know fear and thus did not see it for what it was. It had been tainted in both this world and the world before. The Shadows had done their duty when they had been living souls and had sucked it dry to such an extent that the odd discolored trees and the quietness in wake of no wildlife was not unfamiliar to the man who had seen the forest outside of the purgatory. Truly, he wondered how he could not see that this forest was wrong as a child, even as an almost grown man who still played by the whims of his younger siblings. 

Seonghwa started where the path ended and continued upwards in a patch of clearing that was not overgrown by the wild thorn or the grass that looked to grow in patches thicker than the nearly hollow trunks of the trees that towered above it. It was still quiet. Seonghwa wondered if the vampires who had a grudge were lying quietly afraid or if they were elsewhere, somewhere more sinister. He followed his instincts, turned this way or that way when the dread rose and when the fractured peace found its place again. He grew closer to the top and the sunless sky seemed to still maintain a passing of day as the forest managed to grow darker the longer his journey continued. 

When he reached the mount, it was empty. There were still rocky cliffs above but they were too precarious to hold life. He looked out along the forest and saw nothing. The trees were still and the rocks remained quiet, no tell-tale signs of anyone quietly climbing the cliff’s edge. The trip felt useless but he still looked out into the distance. This was a height he had not been able to obtain when he had lived. He was happy that he had never seen it with his siblings because it was a lonely sight. He couldn’t imagine that the dead forest would ever hold beauty again after it had been tainted by the Shadows. Seonghwa truly felt a genuine grievance against these creatures, no matter if his long life was thanks to their failures or not. In the end, they were still people who had sought power that did not belong to them. They had paid the price for it like all the other creatures that Seonghwa had unknowingly condemned to this place. They shared the same vice, a vice Seonghwa could never understand except maybe in the shining eyes of the Pirate King who made greed look like entitlement. A different form of greed, one that the King knew would end in death, unlike these who sought to surpass death. Seonghwa was thankful he hadn’t turned Hongjoong so that greed would remain a mortal sin, and not an immortal one. 

There was rustling down below. Seonghwa looked down at the trees and saw a familiar face peeking out of it. Seonghwa almost laughed, no he did laugh. It bounced across the face of the mountain and echoed into the valley like a call for all to come to where he was. It was the vampire he had most recently killed. Seonghwa wondered if his belly had healed in this life or if it hung it pieces from his frame. The answer would come soon enough because the creature launched itself up the mountain side with a brutal pace. Seonghwa tried to see around the shirt over his frame. The stomach looked intact. That was a little disappointing. Could he kill him again here? If he did, how long did he stay dead? Forever? Would killing him here wipe him from existence forever. Seonghwa was so tempted to find out. The creature grabbed the cliff’s edge and pulled himself over it, already making swipes at Seonghwa’s legs. Seonghwa easily dodged it and drove his foot into the creature's back until he was sprawled on his stomach, waving his arms and legs as he tried to push up. “Ah, little one, we are reunited so soon.” The vampire screamed, “You died. You died too. I’ll have forever to kill you.” Seonghwa leaned down, pressing harder. He heard bones crunching beneath his foot, “Would I die if you killed me here?” The vampire slash wildly, “Yes, forever. No more Dark Prince. No more.” Seonghwa grinned, “Then you’d better behave. I didn’t die. I’m very much alive. I came through a gateway. Tell me where I can find those robed chrones or even their master. I don’t care either way.” The vampire beneath him shivered, “I can’t--I can’t take you there.” Seonghwa sighed, grabbing the arm that was trying to slice at his leg and tightened his grip, pulling it towards him until it popped. He could see the skin stretching, black powder breaking out where blood would have come forth before. “I’ll rip your arm off first. Then we can talk about where they are, right?” Seonghwa ripped the arm from the body, watched in fascination as black dust floated out of the wound. He tossed the arm over the edge of the cliff. “So little one, where are they? I’m running out of patience and you are running out of limbs.” The vampire sobbed with his face planted in the dust and rocks of the mountain top, “They--they meet at a cave on the eastern side. It’s hidden. We are forbidden from going there. Only the one can go, the one they made.” Seonghwa released the vampire who grasped the hole where his arm once was. Seonghwa stepped away, “I’ve killed you once for your greed. There would be no true purpose to kill you again unless you wish to continue with your plan to kill me yourself. A thoughtless plan that would end badly.” The vampire curled into a ball and shook his head, “No. I won’t. I’ll leave. The others will come. But I will leave.” Seonghwa smiled, “Very well.” 

It was hard to decipher where the east truly was. There was no sun, nothing to go off of. He looked back towards the town that lay south of the mountain in his memory. He headed left, the terrain growing more difficult but he continued easily, the only sound was the sliding of rocks as he descended. It was a hidden cave. He did not if that meant it was hard to see from the trail or if that meant it was shielded by magic. But he could smell it. The same putrid smell of the magic from the island. He followed that. It grew fainter in some spots. He would stray only to find the scent disappearing completely before he would return to find the weaker one again. It was a tiring process. He could hear hushed whispers and knew that there were others watching him. They would not approach him yet, perhaps because they had heard the screaming of their companion and thought better of it. They were vampires. The scent of death was fainter on them now, nearly gone but they still smelled unpleasant enough that he could sense where they were even as he smelled out the dank smell of black magic. 

Finally, halfway down the mountain, the smell hit him full force. He stumbled a bit from the potency and squinted into the dark. There is a large flat space on the face of the mountain. There were some dips as if an opening had once been there but was now closed. He headed towards it but as he took the first steps, the nearly nonexistent of the death descended upon him. 

\--

  
  


Hongjoong and his crew were back at the Black Rose. His crew sat at the counter, downing their drinks but did not share the same light words that the rest of the bar tossed about. Rose noticed their mood and did not force them to speak. Yunho was the closest to being drunk. He kept asking for more and more until Mingi was pushing drinks away from him, trying to coax him into returning to the ship. Yunho wasn’t a soft soul. He had lived a very hard life. His childhood had been taken from him, his family murdered before his eyes before he watched his home burn. He had wandered the streets as a child until he had met Hongjoong. Hongjoong was a child himself, only a few years older. The kid was covered in mud from head to toe. He was smaller than Yunho even at that age but he fought with fire in his eyes and a smile that Yunho had found fascinating. He had followed the kid everywhere like a lost puppy until Hongjoong had decked him right on the nose. Still, he followed. Hongjoong was a boy of 12, had procured a smaller selling vessel that he managed to lead with an iron fist. Grown men listened to the high pitched calls because the boy had proved himself plenty worthy. Yunho had been overwhelmed with gratitude with the rude brat who had said he could come aboard but he would feed him to the sharks if he broke a single thing. 

And now, Yunho had broken Hongjoong. No one would say it. Yunho didn’t dare speak to the captain nore look at him. It had been his fault. He had fallen behind. He wasn’t dumb by any means. He was slow on the uptake of things that were more serious and his long limbs still fumbled clumsily under him but he was a vicious fighter. He had never needed any of the crew to save him. But he had needed to be saved on that blasted island and Seonghwa had been the one to do it. 

Once Yunho had managed to throw the raging Captain aboard, the peaks of the island with the disgusting shack sitting atop it had nearly sunk entirely into the ocean. The Captain had looked at the sight and there wasn’t a single emotion on his face. He stood completely still, watched the peaks sink beneath the waves before the sky rippled, the ocean shivered, and then the world was reduced to an eerie calm. The crew was quiet yet it was obvious what they were all asking. Where is the fourth? What happened to Seonghwa? Hongjoong turned away from the sea and walked towards the bridge. “Let’s sail out.” That was it. The days that passed got progressively worse until the crew had made it to land.

The captain sat at the edge of the, his first drink sitting untouched. He kept turning to look at a corner of the bar and Yunho knew what he was looking at, what he was looking for. The crew was still, trying to enjoy the night but there was no joy, only quiet. A quiet that was neither comforting or truly quiet at all. The captain gazed about the bar and his eyes reflected a deep black that was screaming. He suddenly stood and looked at his crew. “Rest tonight. Tomorrow, we are heading to the North.” 

\--

Seonghwa didn’t know how much time had passed. It was like the time here passed too quickly. The sky shifted in its darkness as if days had passed when it could have only been hours. Hundreds of corpses laid at his feet in front of the opening of the cave. It had opened. It had opened and a figure was screaming from it but it did not step out even as Seonghwa continued to rip apart each vampire that tried to kill him. Some had gotten in swings, slashed through his arm, his stomach, his chest, but they healed so quickly that he didn’t even flinch. Less and less of the vampires came. But they still came. They were enraged, eyes no longer glowing silver but instead they glowed red, thirsty for blood they could no longer obtain in this world that Seonghwa had banished them to. The fear that they had of the gate on the east side of the mount did not stop them. The screams coming from the mouth of the cave did not make them halt. It seemed to encourage them and give them the strength to crawl towards him, try to rip into his legs until he rip off their heads or tore out their hearts. Seonghwa showed no mercy here. Not in a land of Shadows. Not in this land that housed a being that had envied his life and plotted Hongjoong’s death. Hongjoong. 

He had not wanted to think of him here. He wanted to return, to fix this, to dedicate his life to stave off the curse, but he wouldn’t break it. Hongjoong would continue to live, breathe, radiate that heat that burned Seonghwa’s skin so harshly, so tenderly. Seonghwa would let that fire burn him for eternity and he wouldn’t care. Longed for it in this place of cold, blood turned to ash and lightness stolen away from any living thing. “You can stop killing them now.” Seonghwa had just caught a woman by the throat. She slashed wildly and snapped her jaws like a rabid dog. Seonghwa turned, hand still gripping her neck painfully tight. There was a man standing at the mouth of the cave. His face looked old not in the sense of age but in a sense of a people that had not walked the earth for some time. A race that had dwindled into nonexistence. Seonghwa smirked, “I think they are the ones trying to kill me. If you had not noticed.” Seonghwa let his claws draw out, ripping open the woman’s neck as he dropped her before he bent down to pull off her head. He dusted the black ash off his hands as he stood again. “And who are you supposed to be?” The one who stood before him tilted his head, “The first.” 

The first vampire. For sure that was what he was referring to. “Did you die?” The man nodded, “400 years ago. Yes. Though I can’t truly refer to this existence as death because I am still feeling and breathing.” Seonghwa let out a dry laugh, “Feeling. What an odd phrase for a place that obviously lacks the necessities to provoke it.” The man stared at him darkly, “And who are you to provoke such anger from these children so shortly after your own death?” Seonghwa stepped towards the man, getting closer to the mouth of the cave that had grown silent. “They had a name for me in the real world, I believe. But someone as old as you would have no use for it. But I would like to enter that cave behind you. Can’t say that it is a request but rather I am informing you that I will be entering there.” Seonghwa blinked and the man had thrust his hand into his chest and ripped his heart out. The pain shot through Seonghwa like someone had stuck a searing rod into his chest. The vampire stepped away with the heart in his grasp. “The children cannot enter the cave. Only the Mages can. And I.” Seonghwa smiled around the blood that slowly dripped from his mouth. The other vampire watched the liquid with rapt attention before he gasped, “You are not dead.” Seonghwa shook his head, “No. I am not. Can’t say I would be dying to get here either. Truly, I was dragged here on an island. A bit unfair that I was robbed of my time early.” The vampire frowned, “We are creatures who rob time. We steal it for eternity. Surely you had your fill.” The vampire squeezed the heart in his hand, Seonghwa felt the pain of the action, felt the absence of his heart but he did not fall, did not wail even as the man dug his own set of claws into it.” Seonghwa stepped forward, “I would like that back. There’s something very disturbing about not having a heart.” The vampire stumbled back in fear, “You--what are you?” 

His trembling was interrupted instead by another voice, less human and more muddled by a viel that was unnatural, “Dark Prince. We are sorry that you have been brought here unfairly.” Seonghwa paused. Another figure had slipped out of the cave. A creature draped in black, not showing the face thought Seonghwa imagined there was no face to show. It was a figureless man whose only form was clouded by the thick fabric of the robes it wore in life. “If you are so sorry, give me back my heart.” The robed figure approached the vampire who had claimed to be the first. “He is a guest, Aimery. Please do not treat him so harshly.” The man’s eyes seemed to cloud over before he was mindlessly handing over the organ. Seonghwa took it, glaring at the heart. He inhaled and smelled the stench of black magic on it. He grimaced before he tossed it to the ground. “I was rather fond of having a heart. Did you have to taint it?”

The robe before him shuddered and it’s smooth muddled voice cracked, “That damned medicine man delving into arts he did not know. He has resided here as a parasite but he has lost his place here.” Seonghwa chuckled, “Just because he managed to create something you could not. I wonder if my heart will grow back. Surely, it will be better than the one you tampered with. What was the purpose of it? Would you have let me return to the real world only for me to take the Pirate King’s life?” There was a ripple in the air and the stench of black magic increased. Seonghwa side stepped away from it and watched in disgust as the bodies that had lay behind him began to rot. 

The first vampire was still gazing at him with foggy eyes, there seemed to be a fight behind them even as he stood there but Seonghwa did not know if it was for or against him. He did not wish to know because the latter was unpleasant. He only had so many organs to spare to the vampire. He had never tested the limits of that void but he imagined that even someone like him could die from it. The robe before him shifted again, pausing as the hood tipped back. “Ah, your King is in the North again. I wonder if he has come here to look for you.” Seonghwa looked into the mouth of the cave as a shriek echoed within. 

“Hongjoong.”

“Hongjoong, stay the fuck away from this mountain or I will never forgive you.” 

Seonghwa willed it. Begged the gates to open. Begged that proud Pirate King to listen. 

\--

Apparently, it was much easier to find ‘cursed land’ than a ‘Dark Prince.’ The people of the villages who remembered him just watched him fearfully. A strange pirate revisiting a place after searching for the dark prince was now searching for cursed land. Some of the villagers were very hesitant to tell him, either out of fear of the man or fear of what may happen if they spoke. Still, Hongjoong knew that the villages knew of a place. They would not give him details. They would only point further north. Hongjoong’s crew was getting restless, irritated. They were snapping at one another when someone leaned too heavily or one would whine about their feet hurting.

They had reached the same village from before that had once had bodies piled high. Now, the bodies were gone. The only evidence that they had been there were the stakes still standing in the ground and the charred ground at the center. The villagers here too refused to speak about the cursed land. They were even more fearful than the village before. Hongjoong had been going forward with desperate rage but now the desperation had reached its peek. He told his men to go to the inn, to rest, and that they would continue the next day. Hongjoong did not join them. Instead, he headed to the shaman’s house. He wondered if the woman had taken his criticism from before and gotten a new job. The gaudy decorations and the same disgusting incense told him otherwise. When he came to the open sliding door, there was already a woman sitting there, crying as she begged the shaman to protect her children. Hongjoong stared at the scene, unimpressed and impatient. 

The shaman had been drawing on a piece of aged paper. It was a language, probably the local dialect, that Hongjoong didn’t understand. The shaman looked up from her writing and suddenly the brush strokes went sideways, drawing across the table as the woman released the brush and jumped back. The guest looked up at Hongjoong and screamed. Truly, this was his least favorite village in the north. Seonghwa had said he had been burned at the stake here when he was torturing that creature. Hongjoong wondered if he had been born here. If the village had looked the same or if there were older buildings that had fallen. Hongjoong didn’t even know how long Seonghwa had been alive. 

Hongjoong sat down in the now empty space as the woman had ran straight out the door. “I ‘ope ya can help m’better this time. Lookin’ for some cursed land.” The woman shook her head and stuttered, “T-the village doesn’t--we don’t speak of it.” Hongjoong slammed his fist into the table, the ink went flying spilling black across the table and down the woman’s clothes. “I ain’t asking ya if ya can tell me. Ya gonna tell me or ya town’ll have t’look fer a new shaman. I’ll gut ya here. Savvy?” The woman pointed north. Hongjoong gritted his teeth, flipped the table and pressed the woman into the floor. “Er’ fucking village I been in, s’all they did was point north. Ya got a answer for me?” The woman sobbed, “It’s a folk tale. To stay away from the mountain. Nearly a thousand years ago, a village of children died after wandering in the mountains. Each time they wandered, they would return and die within days. The mountain was said to be cursed by the gods. No one dares to go near it or speak of it in fear of being struck sick like the children.” Hongjoong pulled away with a hiss. “S’that so hard? Fuckin’ villagers and t’superstitions.” 

Hongjoong left the shaman’s house and stood on the front step. He gazed out at the mountain, his eyes drooped with fatigue but his body wanted him to go. To tear apart the mountain until he found whatever it was that was making his chest split painfully. There was shuffling beside him and Hongjoong broke his gaze and looked at the figure who had approached him. It was Mingi, shoulders curved in and face pale but he looked up at the captain with clear eyes, “Cap’n. Shall ya rest tonight and w’leave ‘morrow?” The captain looked at the mountain again, remembered Seonghwa glaring at Yunho like he would kill him if he didn’t go and take the captain with him. The captain sighed, “Aye. We’ll go tomorrow.” Hongjoong would rest that night and then tomorrow he would find those bastards and he would take his heart back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh the joys of trying to pace a fic. I really had a hard time with this one. I am vying for Hongjoong and Seonghwa to just find each other already but who the fuck am I if I don't give at least a bit of power to the Shadows. That first vampire was kinda sus though right? I was even a bit disappointed when I made his character. Also, why the fuck are english names so...predictable. Like it took me a long time to find an old english name from the early 1000's that had not vividly thrived thousands of years of bullshit. Like who the hell thought Geoffrey was so cool that it should survive the rising and falling of hundreds of cities. Just sayin.' As a native english speaker, do better english. Do better.


	15. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seonghwa enters the cave but he's running out of time, out of blood and he can no longer keep his longing for Hongjoong from his mind.

Seonghwa’s chest heaved as he slid across the floor of the cave. He was desperately trying to fight these stupid robed figures, mages or whatever they were called. It was tiring. Killing hundreds of vampires outside the cave had been a bit of a chore but these guys were harder to take down. They were nothing. They were just vapers cloaked in robes. There was nothing for him to tear into and the dumbstruck vampire from early had been attacking Seonghwa, trying to rip into whatever section of flesh was closest. Seonghwa was covered in his own blood and his fangs ached because he had been bleeding out for so long he needed to  _ feed.  _ His energy was dropping and the robes kept circling about him trying to strike against him each time his back was away from the wall of the cave. 

A particular strike from Aimery, the first vampire and the first fucking failure, monumental slip up of men who worshiped some beast-like deity, had Seonghwa snarling. He turned on the man, the moral restraint of killing someone who looked unseeing at his prey no longer relevant. Seonghwa turned on him, slashed his claws across the vampire's throat before he ducked below another nauseatingly strong wave of magic before he rose again and kicked the vampire's head off. The head rolled across the floor of the cave, the body stood there for a moment, arms reaching wildly before it twitched and dropped. Seonghwa let out a breath and took off deeper into the cave. There was some beast down there at the bottom. It was obviously connected to the creatures above because it was crying out at that moment as if in mourning of another fallen one of its children. 

Seonghwa felt no remorse. He would slaughter them all if they stood in his way. They weren’t children. They were remnants of an eternal life that was thoughtlessly created and given away without checks, without balance, without purpose. Giving eternal life to a man who had made it clear that his life was essential to a world worth living in was one thing. Giving it to common thieves and greedy bastards was another. Seonghwa couldn’t claim that he was the former but he knew for sure that he was not the latter, and thus, his life was still important. He would still fight this. He had a bratty King that would come up the mountain to satisfy that burning feeling in his gut, to avenge his own life that had been played with by the Shadows. 

Seonghwa imagined the captain of the Aurora was a very vengeful man. He wondered if the captain was also feeling this ache or if was pushing forward to return the favor to the bastards who played with his life. Either way, he was here, in the North for a purpose that Seonghwa wasn’t sure of. He was almost hopeful that the captain was looking for him, hopeful that it was just revenge, that the captain wasn’t going to make the trek up the mountain. 

Seonghwa skidded to a stop as the bottom of the cave dropped. He looked down in the hole and saw nothing. It was just a dark abyss but something was down there. Heat radiated from the chasm, there was warmth there and water dripped from the ceiling there. It was the only source of water that he had seen in this place. The screeching from before had stopped when he had turned the last corner but Seonghwa had a feeling that the screeching had come from there. There was a beast at the bottom and there was no further walk to take further into the cave. Across from him, there was a small landing and then a wall with dips and jagged edges. This was the end. If there was a gate to the real world, it was here. 

The sliding of fabric across the ground sounded behind him. They were quickly approaching but Seonghwa wasn’t about to dive off into a hole he couldn’t see into. Seonghwa took four steps back, ran towards the drop before he launched himself across. He didn’t land gracefully, any grace he had left was dripping from the walls and tainting the floor at the mouth of the cave. He nearly folded in on himself when he landed on the slender strip. He gripped the wall, nearly biting his tongue to keep from groaning in pain, and he slid along the wall until he crammed his slender frame into one of the dips, hoping to hide, to listen, to get a better idea of what the hell was waiting at the bottom of that hole. 

It was silent, he didn’t breathe, didn’t move, became a statue, a hollow shell that masked an eternity as he waited for any movement. 

\--

The morning light streamed into the room but Hongjoong did not move, or rather he could not move. His body screamed in pain like he had been slashed a thousand times, his throat felt parched and it was hard to breath. His eyes couldn’t open, wouldn’t open as he tried to memorize what was flashing behind his eyes.  _ Hongjoong, stay the fuck away from this mountain or I will never forgive you.  _ The gravelly, deep voice that had once sounded like honey cut him open. Hongjoong gritted his teeth. A chasm. Figureless robes. They must be the shadows. Hongjoong had never dreamed so vividly before. He had his fair share of dark dreams, a life of killing and nearly being killed repeating in his mind no matter how adjusted he had become. He had toppled every figure that had tried to destroy him and he relished in seeing their bodies float away, the life drain from their eyes. It was a beautiful process to watch life leave the body of a person who had wanted him dead. It was the perfect ending. He did not mind those memories revisiting him in the few hours he slept but this dream was not something he had experienced, was not his own. And the voice repeated like a mantra in his head. 

Hongjoong tore his eyes open, and was met with the aged tones of wood and the creme tones of fabric. It contrasted with the blood soaked black fabric and wet, white skin of his dreams. Hongjoong would have to be unforgiven. Hongjoong nearly bolted from his bed only for his legs to give out. He gritted his teeth and grasped the edge of the bed. He felt nauseous, thirsty, so thirsty. The door to his room busted open and Mingi looked at the bed, mild panic across his face before he saw Hongjoong trying to push himself to his feet. “We need t’go to the mountain.” Mingi tried to help the captain up but Hongjoong shoved him away, stood on shaky legs as he reached for his sword. Mingi caught the captain by the waist as he tried to make for the door. “Cap’n, stop--shit, sit t’fuck down n’listen.” Hongjoong broke from his grasp, drew his sword and growled. Mingi stepped back but spoke anyway. “The mount’s on fire, Cap’n. The villagers ran fer it. The innkeeper didn’t wake us up, jus’ left.” Hongjoong felt another wave of nausea hit him before he was stumbling towards the door. His crew was halfway dressed in the hall, trying to pull on their clothes. Yunho looked pale when he saw the captain walking with his sword drawn. 

Hongjoong stood on the front step, staring at the flames that burned the mountainside. The entire thing was up in flames, the dead bark fueling the fire and Hongjoong thought it looked like rage. He took hesitant steps down the street. He was at the edge of the village, the burnt ground to his left looking like a pale scar compared to the flames that were all consuming on the mountain face. He took off up the path, his heart hammering in his chest, searching blindly for something, for something that should be there. Something that had to be there. 

He stopped as a wall of flame flickered up in his path. The fur of his coat singed and caught alight. He chucked off the piece of clothing and glared through the flames. There, walking through the flames was a shadow. Hongjoong tightened his grip on his blade and stood back, ready to kill whatever walked through. He raised his sword and swung as the figure stepped through the final wall of flames. A hand caught the blade and a tired figure smiled up at him, “Damn, Captain, already trying to kill me?” Hongjoong dropped his sword to catch the figure that fell forward. Seonghwa laid limp in his arms, chapped lips smiling up at him stupidly. “Seonghwa, what the--” “Killed their god. Ripped the fucking creatures to shreds. Such a powerful god they ‘ad. A wild ‘nimal...jus’ cried er’time I ‘illed his child...ren. They followed me out. Disappeared. Don’t know...don’t know...when they’ll be back...Joong, you gotta get out of the north.” 

Hongjoong pulled Seonghwa closer. He looked really bad. His clothes were shredded to bits. No wounds showing but he was covered in blood and ash, eyes drooping dangerously. “Seonghwa...what’s wrong with ya?” Seonghwa blinked his eyes open, “M’hungry. Need t’feed.” Hongjoong let out a shuddering breath, “Feed from me.” Seonghwa stiffened. “N’you, anyone but you.” Hongjoong gritted his teeth, “Ya not gonna fuckin’ kill me.” Seonghwa looked up at him then, eyes nearly clear, his jaw set, “Hongjoong, I’d drain every drop so no one in this world could ever have you again. Not a fucking soul. Not the shadows, not the whores at the pub, no one. I’d drink every bit so I keep you inside of me forever.” And then Seonghwa’s eyes closed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well...I lasted a whole ass chapter before I put them together again. Sorry, the next chapter will probably be angsty. Definitely gonna play up that pettiness of Hongjoong's because why not? 
> 
> I love a soft but possessive Seonghwa so you'll be seeing that quite a bit. I'm kinda excited to move forward because now I can finally get into the roles that San and Wooyoung play in this very dependent relationship that our two protagonist are starting to have. Hehe. Yayay.


	16. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seonghwa wakes up on the Aurora. He's being guarded by Wooyoung. San comes down wanting to play and Seonghwa's nearly at his wits end dealing with the brat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I had a comment on the last one asking about all the details of Seonghwa's escape and exactly what happened. Believe me, I will continue to explain that. It's not going to be left like that but I really hate it when too much information is unloaded in one chapter. 
> 
> If you notice the italics, that's Seonghwa's flashbacks to what happened in the cave. And the god figure, well...that'll be explained more in the future. But remember that Seonghwa called him a 'so-called God' in the chapters before. There is a reason I dropped that doubt in there. Anywhore, hope you enjoy.

_ It was endless. This darkness. The warmth rose up to him as he fell through the chasm. It burned his skin, blisters bleeding across his skin and then heeling over only for the skin to rise again, filled with blood before they were washed away again as his body healed. Seonghwa hit the bottom of the chasm with a resounding thud. Their god was here. He lived in this abysmal place. There were parts of bodies lying about, bodies that did not bleed out black dust but human blood that painted the place in brushed stokes like the one who had torn them apart was doing so with an artful grace.  _

_ It stunk. Decay. Blood. Magic. Fire. There was the strong smell of burnt flesh, scalded rock, and the stink of some creature. Seonghwa pushed himself up from where he had fallen, bones cracking painfully as his legs tried to heal themselves even as he stood. He limped along, grimacing as the pieces of bodies he became smaller, some mutilated by what could only be scorching hot flames. He found the water but when he looked inside it was black, dirtied, almost thick with whatever it was that stirred in its depths. There was a crackling sound from the left and Seonghwa narrowed his gaze in its direction. A black claw shifted forward, slick with something but shining like a hand coated with scales but coarse hairs peaked out of the slits between each plate. The hand was large, as big as Seonghwa torso, could probably be wrapped completely around him with claws that scraped dangerously across the bottom of the cave like swords. The same voice that had shrieked was thrumming now at some deep pitch that made Seonghwa’s bones hurt. Seonghwa stepped towards the clawed hand that was peeking out of the shadows. “Are you supposed to be their god?”  _

Seonghwa jerked awake, pushing some source of warmth off of him as he did so. His throat was screaming and his head throbbed. He needed to feed. He blinked open his eyes and saw the familiar ceiling of his cell on the Aurora. He looked down at his body to see he had been changed into something else. The pants were too short and he glared down at them. That fucking Captain--”Seonghwa! You woke up!” Seonghwa slid his gaze over to the source of the warmth he had pushed off to find Wooyoung looking up at him with stars in his eyes. Wooyoung launched himself off the floor and back onto Seonghwa. Seonghwa gritted his teeth as he could distinctly hear the heartbeat on top of him. The steady thump thump accelerating as the boy nuzzled in closer to Seonghwa. Seonghwa tried to push the boy off but he had no strength left. “Wooyoung, get off. I’m hungry.” Wooyoung grinned up at him, “Yeah? Wanna bite?” Seonghwa let his head fall back, didn’t breathe but his lungs burned, begging him to do so, to calm down, to not kill the boy on top of him. “No. Get off. I said I wouldn’t feed off the crew members. Did Hongjoong send you down here for that?” Wooyoung pulled away with a flush on his cheeks that made Seonghwa’s fingers twitch. “Uh, s’not that...uh...e’s mad at ya right now. Almost left ya on t’port ‘alf dead.” Seonghwa felt his own wave of anger wash over him. Leave it to that brat to get offended. 

It took everything within Seonghwa not to sink his teeth into Hongjoong’s neck. It was a desire that wasn’t limited to the blood in his veins. No, Seonghwa shivered at the memories. As he had been sinking through that thick water as the robes roared and flames started to light up around him, body aching, chest hollow, absent of the thing that used to weigh his chest down comfortably, he had thought of Hongjoong. He was so hungry, his stomach lurching as he thought of the wild smile and bright eyes. Seonghwa wanted all of it. Wanted to drain him, devour every piece of the captain until his belly was swollen and the heat that the captain pressed against his skin would be pressed against his inside. He wanted to hold the bits and pieces of Hongjoong in his stomach forever. It was past desire. It was...possessiveness. It was a selfish need to keep Hongjoong from the world at whatever the cost. It was worse than the stirring in his gut when he had smelled Hongjoong at the bar, had seen him at the cliff, had let Hongjoong take him in the cabin. It was so much worse. He was terrified of that need. 

And if they were out at sea again, that meant that Hongjoong would need his blood. He didn’t have enough of anything. He had no energy, no strength. That made him panic a bit. He tried to shuffle off of Wooyoung but the boy wasn’t moving. Seonghwa groaned, “Then are you the guard? Is he gonna keep me down here until I satisfy his damn needs?” Wooyoung smirked, “Somethin’ like that. So, are ya gonna bite me?” Seonghwa tried to pull his head away when Wooyoung hovered above him. Seonghwa placed his hands on the boys shoulders, barely able to hold him back, “Wooyoung, what makes you think that if I told the captain no, that I would say yes to you?”

“Don’t be mean t’little Wooyoungie. He’s head o’ heels for ya.” 

Seonghwa looked at the doorway, the actually door still detached, leaning uselessly against the other side. San stood there with a grin and was twirling a dagger in his hand. “Cap’n thinks you’ll have t’cave here soon. Just keep’n Wooyoungie down ‘ere ‘til ya do. But I don’t like t’wait.” San pulled Wooyoung off, the boy whining as he went and then San was straddling his waist, waving the dagger around. “Cap thought ya dead when ya knocked out ‘em. Ya don’t breathe when ya sleep. So I cut ya with a knife t’see if ya’d bleed. Ya nearly took m’head off with those claws.” San had grabbed his hand and was playing with his fingers as he spoke, knife still gripped in his hand. Seonghwa tried to pull his hand away but he was too weak to do so. “Would ya even heal if I cut ya up now?” Seonghwa shuddered as San pushed up his shirt. The cold of the brig was getting to him. He didn’t have enough blood to protect him from the cold, much less for whatever San was thinking. Seonghwa looked to Wooyoung who was smiling up at San and then Seonghwa, back and forth. He just sat there leaning back on his hands as he watched. San turned the blade and pressed it’s cool edge against Seonghwa’s chest. The pirate grinned, “Could I cut ya heart out and give it to Cap’n. Maybe e’d be less mad if he ‘ad a part of ya.” Seonghwa laughed around a groan when San pressed the blade to his skin. “Don’t have one. Had it ripped out in the Otherworld. Sorry, Sannie.” San’s eyes darkened, “The Shadow’s?” Seonghwa shook his head, gasping when San drew an arc into his chest. He could feel his blood flowing slowly, so slow, and it burned in his gut. “A vampire did it. A dead vampire.” San leaned forward, watching Seonghwa’s expression with smiling eyes, “Did ya kill ‘em?” “Yes.” San grinned, leaned back but kept his gaze on Seonghwa. “Ya so hot, Hwa. So pretty. Been wanting to cut ya up ‘n watch what it did to ya but Cap’n kept ya all to ‘imself Wasn’t expecting this, though.” San rolled his hips and Seonghwa weakly jerked. How was he hard when he could barely lift a hand? Seonghwa whimpred when San drew down the blade. The blade was so cold but the cuts were blazing hot, burning deep in his skin. “What’s it to do ya like this? What does ya hunger feel like?” 

Seonghwa’s eyes were silver and his throat was burning. It felt like death. It felt like drowning. Like water was filling his lungs, his head dizzy without knowing what was up or down. Like he wasn’t in control of his flailing limbs as he tried to reach the surface. Seonghwa looked up at San, smirk in place on his features. San had malicious eyes, cut sharp with large black orbs that stared out through dark lashes that picked you apart piece by piece until he was satisfied that there wasn’t a piece left untouched, nothing left behind. Seonghwa was lost. San’s heartbeat sounded loud, perfectly calm, still. He wanted to wreck that peace. Seonghwa’s hands grasped San’s thighs, hands finding the strength to dig into the fabric. San watched the movement with an amused expression. His knife moved from Seonghwa’s torso to his arm, he drew a line down Seonghwa’s arm, he could hear the thick fluid drip onto the floor. “Wooyoungie’s wanted ya to fuck ‘em fer so long. I wanted t’elp ‘em out but ya look so pretty like this I wanna try it m’self. Saw ya that day, walk’n out t’cap’n’s cabin lookin’ all fucked out. Wanna see it again.” 

Seonghwa weakly met San’s hips as they rolled down on him. Seonghwa felt some part of him trying to pull away, but Seonghwa liked it. He liked the way San’s eyes burned into him, liked that selfishness in the man’s gaze. Seonghwa found himself pulling on the fabric clenched in his hands. San undid his belt with a smirk. Seonghwa could hear Wooyoung’s breathing pick up, his heart beat going erratic. It contrasted with the even spacing of San’s. Seonghwa closed his eyes, tried to breath to think about something that wasn’t the knife making designs, wasn’t pulling off San’s clothes because he was so hot and needed it, needed something. 

The warmth was gone from him just like that. Wooyoung was squeaking, shuffling quickly and Seonghwa was digging his hands into the wood, gritting his teeth at the overwhelming smell of lotus flowers. Hongjoong’s voice was harsh and Seonghwa could swear he could hear skin on skin contact from someone punching another but he wouldn’t open his eyes. And then heat returned to him, this one much more painful than the one from before. Those burning hands pulled him up by the throat, “Open ya fucking eyes n’ look at me.” Seonghwa did, could never deny that voice anything, and he saw Hongjoong was pissed off, his mouth set in a twisted way that made Seonghwa want to reach up and smooth it out. “San got real quiet, figured e’d run off down ‘ere. Shoulda known I’d find ‘em tryna fuck ya. Were ya gonna let him?” Hongjoong was pressing painfully on his throat and Seonghwa was so dizzy with want. Seonghwa rasped out, “Joong.” Hongjoong pulled Seonghwa into his lap, gripped his hard on with a growl, “Ya fuckin’ hard from ‘em cutting ya up like a piece o’ meat.” Seonghwa gripped Hongjoong’s wrist as the hand attached held him by the throat tightly. Seonghwa looked at him hazily, “Missed you.” Hongjoong froze. “What?” “I missed you. I tried not to...to think about you but I missed you.” Hongjoong’s grip loosened, Seonghwa wished it hadn’t because his teeth were aching and he wanted to lean into Hongjoong’s neck. “What was in t’chasm?” Seonghwa looked up, away from Hongjoong’s neck, “How did you…” “I saw. Saw ya in m’dream telling me t’stay away from t’mountain.” 

_ The clawed foot stepped forward, displayed a leg that was muscled, that led to a broad chest and atop it sat an ugly head with too many eyes and a mouth that was too open, the sides were open and it’s tongue flopped stupidly along the edge. The teeth were terrifying, it would be if Seonghwa hadn’t seen the way the teeth of vampires would become too long, too big when they ate until their bellies were too full. Seonghwa wondered if this thing with its too large teeth had inspired the mages to create something that was immortal, live on the energy of human blood. In the case of this monster, he seemed restless. Body parts hanging about like he got bored. Seonghwa wondered how they got the humans. The beast swayed as it titled it’s head down at Seonghwa to look at him. It screeched when it saw his full frame and lunged forward. Seonghwa barely managed to dodge the large body, but a spiked tail found him anyway, sending him flying into the wall. The beast turn on him again and Seonghwa thought that perhaps it was smiling at him.  _

Seonghwa blinked at Hongjoong, trying to push away the cold images. He shivered as he did so, Hongjoong pulled him closer, wrapped his arms around him. Seonghwa leaned away from Hongjoong’s face and neck, but let his lower body fall closer. Seonghwa shivered again when Hongjoong’s hands pressed along his back, “Hwa?” Seonghwa tried to push against him, “Too close.” Hongjoong’s grip tightened, “Ya stubborn as hell, aren’t ya? Why won’t’ya drink from me?” Seonghwa whined when Hongjoong forced his body to be flush against him, Hongjoong nuzzling into his chest and neck. “I’d hurt you.” Hongjoong shook his head, “Ya took a bullet fer me, Hwa. And ya saved Yunho. Ya killed a god but ya wouldn’t ‘urt me.” 

There were sudden booms up above. Seonghwa looked up but Hongjoong did not. Seonghwa looked outside and saw that the sea was not calm, it had gotten darker, how had he not noticed? “Hongjoong, why did you come down here?” Hongjoong smiled, “Told ya. San was missin’ n’ I had to find ‘em.” The ship shook once again and Seonghwa smelled lotus flowers very strongly. Seonghwa pulled away and saw both the front of his shirt and Hongjoong’s had blood pressed into the fabric. Seonghwa tugged at the strings of the captain’s shirt and let out a shaky breath. “H-hongjoong…” Whatever it was that the crew was fighting, it was big. The hole in Hongjoong's chest was gaping and blood feel freely from it. Had they been fighting all day while Seonghwa had been asleep? Had Hongjoong been fighting off whatever creature had attacked them and just letting the hole grow bigger? Hongjoong looked up at him, no fear in his eyes. Just that same laughing expression on his still face. Hongjoong leaned back, “Just this much and ya won’t kill me right?” Seonghwa released the shirt with shaking hands. “I don’t...I don’t know. I don’t…” Hongjoong grabbed him by the back of his neck and pushed him towards the open wound, Seonghwa tried to pull away but Hongjoong’s grip was firm. “The crew is fightin’ whatever ‘n they’re ugly bastards. Come on, it’ll be a fair exchange. You give a little, and I’ll give a little.” Seonghwa nodded, barely catching what the Captain was actually saying. He leaned in, lips running almost reverently along the skin right above the open wound, before he flicked his tongue out. 

It was heavenly. It was so warm and it tasted divine, like every warm memory Seonghwa had was compressed into this one man, remnants of euphoric happiness streamed from the open wound and Seonghwa was allowed to lick it all away, savor it, worship it. He slid down Hongjoong’s lap so he could press more firmly against his chest. Hongjoong just cradled his head, fingers running through his hair. Seonghwa lapped at the blood like it was honey dripping from a spoon. He had never tasted, in his years alive or undead, something so sweet. It was perfect. Hongjoong was perfect. He wanted Hongjoong by his side forever, wanted to watch him laugh sadistically as he fought, wanted to watch him bicker with Yeosang, wanted to see him look out at the sea like it was the only thing that would ever make him happy...the warmth of the captain was so much better than the idea of hiding the captain away. A world without the captain ordering around a crew, giggling with a bottle of rum in his hands, was bleak in Seonghwa's mind. Like the world of shadows, ripping Hongjoong from this world would bleed this reality of the color that Seonghwa had craved so dearly when he had been stuck in the Otherworld. Seonghwa's teeth ache, he felt his fangs grow and he scraped them against the skin of Hongjoong's chest, the man tightening his hold in a pulling motion instead of pushing him away. Seonghwa blinked at the dry wound, sides of the wound looking jagged, painfuly, like a barbed rod had been ripped through the skin. Seonghwa pulled away from the wound, gritting his teeth from the effort but it was enough. It was enough that his head wasn’t pounding anymore. 

Hongjoong grinned, eyes twinkling before Seonghwa felt a sharp pain at the bend of his shoulder. He saw Hongjoong bring back a knife with a lopsided smile. Hongjoong licked the blood from the knife before he leaned forward to suck at the wound that he had carved. Seonghwa was almost shivering, he blearly looked between the side of Hongjoong’s head and then down at Hongjoong’s chest. When Hongjoong pulled away, Seonghwa could see that the wound was closing up and Honjoong was smiling wickedly, blood staining his lips and teeth. A single trail of blood dripped down his chin. Seonghwa mindlessly caught the stray drop, pushed up along the trail before dipping it back into Hongjoong’s mouth. Hongjoong tongue flirtatiously flicked across his finger before he rolled the digit into his mouth, closed his lips around it to suck the blood up before he pulled away with a pop. “So, wanna go save m’crew?” Seonghwa nodded and Hongjoong helped him up onto his feet, eyes shining with stars once again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off, thank you so much for the comments. I genuinely look forward to reading them like seriously. Every morning I wake up, I refresh my email to see if I have comments so I thank you for leaving them. I love criticism, I love questions, I love praise, love it.
> 
> So Seonghwa wants. He just wants. You can see here that there are two sides to it. He wants Hongjoong in the way that the Temptation makes him want him. But also, Seonghwa wants Hongjoong as a living being too. He is absolutely mesmerized by Hongjoong's warmth. He even compares the warmth of Hongjoong to the warmth of San and he can see that there is an obvious difference there. So, truly he is a bit at war with himself but, at the moment, he wants Hongjoong's warmth and is able to overcome the want for his blood in that way. For now. He didn't have to bite Hongjoong so he wasn't overwhelmed by that primal instinct to feed. If that makes sense? Honestly, I hope that I was able to convey all that effectively.


	17. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seonghwa has another nightmare of his time in the shadows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second update today. Hope it doesn't feel...abrupt.

_ The beast was bleeding. Seonghwa lost count of how many times he had had to slash at its iron belly until he had gotten to something soft, something that could bleed. The creature was humming in varied pitches, it sounded like a wounded animal crying for help. Seonghwa thought that he didn't know which of them would fall first. The beast’s blood seemed to burn his skin when it dripped onto him. Seonghwa didn’t know where the robed figures were. Surely, they would have come down to see why their god was crying. If that was what the monster was doing. Seonghwa’s left eye was squeezed shut as blood poured from a wound on his head and he felt dizzy again. Would he die here or would the beast? The beast’s blood pooled along the surface of the cave, dripping into the sludgy water. The water bubbled when the blood made contact with it, Seonghwa eyed it with curiosity before he even his gaze once again on the beast. _

_ The creature seemed to almost gag, tongue rolling out, teeth growing before the numerous eyes blinked at Seonghwa and then they glowed. Seonghwa did not know what that meant, fearful to find out, but then the beast widened its mouth, smoke sliding down it’s tongue before something sparked and flames rolled out of the wounds on its belly as if the fire in its guts were spilling out, and then out of its mouth, singed its own hair as it snapped at Seonghwa, trying to catch him in its roasting bite. Seonghwa slid beneath the thing, could feel the skin of his arm burning as he shielded himself from the unrestrained flames. And then Seonghwa gritted his teeth, and with a deep breath to search for courage, shoved his hand through the flames, into the belly, grasped whatever thing he could and pulled. He was jerked about as the beast thrashed above him, his grip loosened on whatever organ he had managed to grab _

_ The beast was burning up now, its entire body covered in flames like its blood that dripped from gaping holes that Seonghwa had ripped bit by bit was fuel for the flames. And then Seonghwa heard a different kind of screeching. A robed figure had been trying to sneak closer until he was within the flames grasp. The being screeched as its robs caught alight until the robe was nothing and the figure beneath was nothing. Seonghwa could hear more screeching above, like a group of people could feel the pain of one.  _

_ Seonghwa was struggling under the beast, the momentary distraction of the screeching enough for the beast to catch him with one of its claws. He dragged Seonghwa like a doll out from under him. Seonghwa kicked fiercely, grabbing whatever he could until his claws had managed to scratch at one of its eyes. The beast screeched, rearing its head with Seonghwa still speared by one of the big claws. The beast slipped in the pool of blood, grotesquely large talons doing nothing to stop them from slipping across the short distance over the edge and fell into the pool of murky water. The beast roared, and even in this tainted abyss, Seonghwa could see the sparks at the back of the things throat. Seonghwa reached for the claw and slashed ficiously at the joint where it connected until he had broken away, still speared but now freely floating. It was like he was being pulled towards something as he sunk, down seeming more like up the further he went. He watched with what emotions he could muster in the pain that wracked through him, the monster was being pulled too. He couldn’t see the beast for a moment, just floated and his mind worked to keep itself together in this dark. His mind was working over what he had done to get here, who he had been fighting for, until he was slipping through not water, but air.  _

_ Seonghwa choked as he landed on something solid, the claw through his chest itching uncomfortably as his body worked to reject the foreign object out of his body so his body could heal. He tore it from his chest and looked around. It was a cave again, the same cave but there were no bodies around him. The air wasn’t heavy. It felt clean. It felt oddly like home. Seonghwa relaxed against the rock. It couldn’t have been long, his body still aching as the hole in his chest tried to stitch itself together, process slow for it lacked the substance to do so quickly.  _

_ His momentary anguished peace was interrupted as the water gurgled and the beast emerged. All of his eyes were zeroed in on Seonghwa, glaring, glowing with fire, it’s skin seemed to be rolling, molting, becoming something else. Seonghwa stood on shaky legs, running down the cave. His chest wasn’t even completely healed, he didn’t know if he could fight. He stopped underneath the gaping hole and cursed. He wasn’t strong enough to make the jump  _ with  _ blood, much less without it. He didn’t have to decide for himself because the beast came barreling towards him, grabbing Seonghwa with its teeth and bolting up like a cat torturing a mouse within its jaws, not closing but digging just enough to leave the suggestion that death was near. And then Seonghwa saw that it was nearly daybreak.  _

_ It was nearly fucking daybreak. That meant he was no longer in the Otherworld. He was in the real world. This beast was trying to take him out into the world like a fucking trophy, needed more ground, wanted Seonghwa to see his home before he was snapped between its jaws. This beast could not come to the real world. There would be devastation. More than what the stupid, greedy vampires could do. He had to kill this thing. He had to.  _

Seonghwa jerked awake, searching blindly until his hand hit something warm,  _ that  _ warmth. He looked over to see Hongjoong was sleeping _.  _ Seonghwa relaxed a bit but didn’t want to stay in bed, the edges of his memory, the edges of that nightmare still at the front of his mind. He grabbed the coat from the end of the bed, slipped it on, and stepped out of the cabin. The sky was calm. The stars showed their innocent light like a cleansing gaze. Seonghwa let his head fall back as he took in deep breaths of the cold night air. 

It had been three weeks since he had left the mountains. He didn’t know where Hongjoong wanted to go, where he was taking them. He didn’t know what he and Yeosang argued about during the day as they poured over maps. He didn’t want to know. Hongjoong had almost told him their plans but Seonghwa had shook his head. He would prefer not to know until he had to. He was paranoid. Those shadows were out there. He remembered killing the beast at the mouth of the cave, it’s fire had already curled outside catching the dry, dead forest alight. The fire took off unlike anything he had seen. The fire was all consuming. It had fully engulfed the beast when Seonghwa had ripped out its heart and then the fire went wild, unrestrained by the consciousness of the beast that had once yielded it. And then the shrieks. He didn’t look, he just stumbled out of the cave, into the flames. But he could feel them. He could feel that they were there. The shadows cried out at him. Cursing him for killing their god. He hoped that they were at least trapped in the cave until the beast’s flames gave out. How long would the rage burn, the fire that burned of black magic? He had run until his legs could no longer give him the strength and he walked lifeless down into the valley. And then he found Hongjoong. 

Seonghwa thought that he could feel that chill sometimes that came from standing in the presence of those robes and he would look around, panicked, first for Hongjoong and then he would search the dark corners of the deck like they would be standing there, faceless, shrieking. Seonghwa shivered and pulled the coat tighter around himself. 

He nearly twisted in defense when he felt the presence of someone next to him but there was a beat and he knew that this time it wasn’t a shadow. This one had a beating heart. A heart that was thrumming nervously. Seonghwa looked to his left and saw Yunho standing there. He looked petrified. 

Seonghwa smiled softly at the man, hoped to give him some semblance of calm but Yunho just looked away. “M’sorry.” Seonghwa tilted his head, eyes narrowing, “For what?” Of course, Seonghwa knew what for. Yunho had been avoiding him all the weeks he was on the ship. He seemed to have started taking his chef duties very seriously and spent all of his time in the kitchen. The food had not improved. The more time Yunho spent below deck, the sadder Mingi looked. Seonghwa thought that he probably should’ve cornered Yunho earlier but if this was how he looked then it was probably best that he had not. 

Seonghwa sighed, took the steps to close the space between them. Yunho flinched but Seonghwa pushed forward before he was pulling Yunho against him, wrapping his arms around the giant’s waist. Yunho was completely stiff, Seonghwa nuzzled his face in his neck, not feeling any kind of bloodlust for the blood that pumped aggressively beneath his cheek, but rather he wanted to feel Yunho’s warmth, wanted to feel Yunho’s kind, calm, warmth. “I never got to thank you, Yunho. For doing what I asked. I was sorry for threatening you, forcing you to do something that you felt conflicted about. But thank you for protecting the captain.” Yunho melted against him, no he didn’t melt, he broke. Yunho was gripping Seonghwa almost painfully tight, “I’m so sorry. If I hadn’t been so slow, ya wouldn’t have had t’do...t’do that.” Seonghwa just ran his hand across his back comfortingly before he pulled back. He reached up, caressing Yunho’s cheek and the poor boy just looked so wounded. Seonghwa stood on his toes to reach and pressed his lips gently to the boy’s forehead before he smiled, “I don’t blame you. And you have to understand why I did that, right? I had to protect Hongjoong. And that means protecting his crew too. You aren’t replaceable, Yunho. I was in that world. You would have died.” 

Yunho did not look the least bit comforted at all. Yunho looked a little angry, actually. He gritted his teeth, “You’re not either. You were gone. The cap’n wasn’t...he wasn’t right. He was...he’s always fearless but he was...we didn’t know if ‘e would…” Seonghwa paused. He hadn’t heard that. Actually, the crew had been very careful around him. Wooyoung was still fawning over him but from afar since Hongjoong had brought down punishment on San. San still watched him from above but, the first few days, he had done so with a black eye and swollen jaw. And honestly, after that first day, Seonghwa had been hungry again. Had almost been tempted to attack San, show him that there was something in this world to be feared, that Seonghwa had the power to bring him to the brink of death because the bastard still grinned at him even with the swollen jar. Seonghwa hadn’t had proper time to debate whether he should leave the captain’s crow nearly dead because Mingi who had come to him with an offer. 

Seonghwa had sworn that he wouldn’t drink from the crew. He had made it clear. He had told Hongjoong he wouldn’t, he had told the demonic twin duo that he wouldn’t, and he had said the same to Mingi when he had come to him that day. Seonghwa remembered he had been pacing his cell, trying to get the smell of lotus out of his nose when Mingi had come to him. He had offered to let Seonghwa drink from him because Mingi could see how much Hongjoong’s scent bothered him. Seonghwa had told him no. And then Mingi said something about Yunho. Precious Yunho who asked Mingi if he could help Seonghwa. Loving Yunho who had been watching Seonghwa pace his cell but didn’t have the courage to enter it. He knew that Yunho was watching, could hear his heartbeat at the bottom of the stairs, it was erratic and Seonghwa knew that if he had looked, he would have seen pleading eyes,  _ let us help you,  _ they would say. Mingi and Seonghwa’s arrangement was a secret. It had only been that one time but Mingi told him if he needed it in the future, to come to him. Seonghwa hoped he wouldn’t. He could be around Hongjoong without wanting to taste again but he had broken his word. 

Seonghwa had known that what had happened had affected Yunho. And he knew that it had thus hurt Mingi because the two were joined at the hip, two halves of one whole. But he hadn’t known it had affected Hongjoong to that extent. He had known it had done  _ something.  _

Seonghwa looked at Yunho again who was lost and angry before he just sighed, “Yunho, I will always do what I can to protect the crew and Hongjoong. I’ve lived a long time. A devastatingly long time. I have outlived the amount of time that was designed for humans over a dozen times over. And even if something bad happens in the process, trust me that I will always come back.” Now that he had said it, he realized it was true. He would always come back. He would come back until the Aurora was ash and Hongjoong was no longer the pirate king. He didn’t want to think of what life would be after. Wished that there was a way for there not to be a life after Hongjoong. 

There was a sniffle and Seonghwa realized that Yunho was crying. Seonghwa reached for him again, held him close until the pirate was sobbing into the coat. Yunho was crying so hard he was hiccuping like a child, soft repeating a mantra of ‘always come back.’ They sank to the floor and the giant clung to him until Seonghwa heard the cries fall silent, a steady heart beat and the even draw of breath that only came from someone who was sleeping. Seonghwa adjusted to hold the sleeping boy better and stared up at the sky. The stars were truly beautiful, never mocking, never vengeful, just staring with unbiased affection over whoever took the time to gaze at their beauty. Seonghwa wished he could be the same. But knew, as he held the sleeping boy, that he wasn’t. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote three chapters in one sitting help. 
> 
> My twitter is @o_r_r_
> 
> I post about updates and small ideas so check it out.


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